


Ending the Silence

by Hawkerin



Series: Family Timelines [6]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, series six rewrite
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-16
Updated: 2015-11-17
Packaged: 2018-04-09 14:16:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 65,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4352102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hawkerin/pseuds/Hawkerin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Amy, Rory, along with Rose and the Doctor's son James, need to figure out the mystery of the astronaut as well as a little girl.  Can James find a way to save River? Series six rewrite in my Family Timelines series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Honeymoons

**Author's Note:**

> Notes: The long awaited sequel in my Family Timelines series is here!! This will rewrite most of series six to include Rose and James. I've got huge plans through series seven at least as well, so stick around. I've left out some of the stuff in the season that wasn't vital to the main plot and I didn't see the point in changing. Huge thanks to my beta TheDoctorMulder, as usual :D

Chapter 1: Honeymoons

 

The Doctor, Rose, and James tried to give Amy and Rory the most amazing honeymoon they could imagine. Unfortunately, it took a few tries. First, they ended up on a space cruise that was crashing into a planet. The skies of the planet were controlled by a grumpy old Scrooge named Kazran Sardick and the little family had to convince him to be more compassionate by going back on his personal timeline and affecting his development from childhood.

 

In the process, he fell in love with a girl who had been locked in stasis by his father. She was terribly ill and only had a few days to live, but Rose and James convinced the Doctor to do some scans and they managed to find a way to help her live for several more years in the end. It still wasn't the forever that all couples in love would want, but it was better than a single day and they cherished every moment.

 

Their next attempt at giving them the perfect honeymoon, resulted in preventing an entire resort from being taken over by space pirates. They did, eventually, find a lovely beach where everyone could relax and enjoy the scenery. They even got a brief visit from a future Jamie and River (since their own version of Jamie had decided to skip the romantic sunset while on his own). Amy and Rory had decided to spend a little time off of the ship after all the honeymooning, to make sure that their friends and family were doing alright. They told the little family that they would be happy to join in for trips often, however.

 

James spent much of his spare time building a new vortex manipulator, since he had given his other one to River after the wedding. He also managed to convince the Doctor to start working on growing a second TARDIS for him. To their surprise, the TARDIS herself revealed that she had been growing one secretly for some time already. They were all overjoyed to find the little coral, growing happily in the nursery room that the ship had created. It would likely be a few centuries before the baby time ship was ready to fly on her own, but James knew that one day, he would have his own TARDIS and wouldn't have to rely on vortex manipulators or hitching with his parents to get around the universe.

 

Once his new device was ready, he decided to go pay a visit to their friends and family at Torchwood. After only a day or two, however, James received a letter in a bright blue envelope, calling him to particular time and space coordinates. So, after saying goodbye to everyone again, he programmed his manipulator for the date and time indicated and pressed the button.

 

 


	2. Impossible Astronaut: Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: Sorry that first bit was so short, don't worry, the other chapters are more my usual length. I hope you like the changes that I've made in this series. Please review!!

Chapter 2: The Impossible Astronaut

 

James looked around where he had landed and decided that he was in the American Southwest. A yellow school bus labelled 'San Juan School District' stopped nearby and he saw Amy and Rory walk out of it, both carrying backpacks.

 

"This is it, yeah? The right place?" Amy asked.

 

"Nowhere, middle of? Yeah, this is," Rory replied cheekily.

 

"Amy, Rory! It's good to see you here. Were you invited as well?" James called to them.

 

It was then that the Doctor interrupted their greetings with a shout of, "Howdy!"

 

James turned to see his dad lying on the hood of a classic car, with a large cowboy hat on his head. "Dad! You know, there are easier ways to get a hold of me than letters," James told him.

 

"Doctor!" Amy interrupted and gave him a hug.

 

"Ha, ha! It's the Ponds," the Doctor teased and returned the embrace. "I know that, Jamie, but getting mail can be fun."

 

"So, someone's been a busy boy then, eh?" Amy said to the Doctor jokingly.

 

"Oh, what've they been up to now?" James groaned, knowing his parents, it could be quite embarrassing.

 

"Did you see us?" the Doctor asked excitedly.

 

"Of course," Amy sighed. "Your parents have been waving at us from history with their antics."

 

"As if the museums aren't bad enough," James complained.

 

"Oi! You and your girlfriend graffitied the oldest cliff face in the universe!" the Doctor countered.

 

"Speaking of significant others, where's yours, Doctor?" Rory questioned.

 

"Rory the Roman! Ooo, come here," the Doctor responded and gave the man a hug as well.

 

"Hey, nice hat," Rory complimented.

 

"Does mum like that one better than the fez? And where is mum?" James asked, repeating Rory's avoided question.

 

"I wear a Stetson now. Stetsons are cool," he responded, again avoiding the query of Rose's location. "And, yes, Rose helped me pick it out," he added, adjusting it proudly.

 

As soon as he took his hands off of the Stetson, it was sent flying off of his head and onto the dusty road by a gunshot behind him. They all turned to see River blow across the end of a pistol before she placed it into a holster on her hip.

 

"Hello, sweetie. James, always a pleasure," she purred and walked towards the small group, swaying her hips a little more than necessary.

 

"River!" James called and pulled her into a spinning hug, making them both laugh.

 

The Doctor drove them all to a nearby diner in the classic car he had been sitting on earlier and as soon as they were all sitting in one of the booths, James and River pulled out their diaries. The Doctor took out the one James recognized as his mother's and had to ask the question again, "Where is mum?"

 

"Visiting with Jackie. I was thankfully excused from the mother-daughter shopping trip," the Doctor finally told them.

 

"Right then, where are we? Have we done Easter Island yet?" River interrupted, knowing exactly why Rose wasn't there.

 

"Er, yes! I've got Easter Island," the Doctor said victoriously as he flipped to the right page in his wife's diary.

 

"Not me. How about Amy and Rory's wedding?" James asked her.

 

"Definitely," she said with a wink. "I've got this after all," she added, holding up the vortex manipulator that he had given her. "Oh, Doctor, they worshipped you on Easter Island. Have you seen the statues?"

 

He smirked at that and asked about another event from Rose's diary, "Jim the fish."

 

"Oh! Jim the fish. How is he?" River nearly shouted.

 

"Still building his dam," the Doctor answered enigmatically.

 

"Alright, I'm used to being out of order with River, but dad, either you're way out of order with me right now, or you've been taking my River on trips without me," James protested.

 

"Oh, you'll be there, love, no need to get jealous of your father," River assured him and he looked curiously at his father since that meant that they were quite far off in their timelines.

 

"Sorry, what are they doing?" Rory questioned confusedly.

 

"They're all time travellers, so they never meet in the right order. They're syncing their diaries. So, what's happening, then? Because you've been up to something," Amy wondered as she looked to the Doctor.

 

"Rose and I've been running, faster than we've ever run. And I've been running my whole life. Now, it's time for me to stop. And tonight, I'm going to need you all with me," the Doctor admitted.

 

" _Running? Oh, dad, this isn't like with the Ood, is it?"_ James asked, remembering how they had run from that call for far too long before the Master came and he regenerated.

 

_"It is something similar, but not. I'll explain more later, I promise,"_ he thought to his son silently.

 

"Okay. We're here. What's up?" Amy asked, trusting the Doctor completely.

 

"A picnic. And then a trip. Somewhere different, somewhere brand new," he replied.

 

"Where?" Amy wondered.

 

"Space, 1969," the Doctor informed them.

 

Hopping back in the old car, the Doctor took them to the shore of Lake Silencio and set out their picnic. A large blanket was spread out on the ground and a few containers of fruit and cheese were opened. The Doctor poured everyone some wine as well.

 

"Salud!" the Doctor shouted.

 

"Salud," the rest of them replied together as everyone took a drink.

 

"So, when are going to 1969?" Rory wondered.

 

"And since when do you drink wine?" Amy asked.

 

"I'm eleven hundred and three. I must've drunk it sometime," the Doctor told her and took a sip straight from the bottle, promptly spitting it out on the ground nearby. "Oh, why it's horrid. I thought it would taste more like the gums."

 

"Oh, come on, dad. We've had this conversation, you have no idea how old you are," James teased.

 

"And I told you that upon meeting your mother, nine hundred was as good a place as any to start counting again," he argued.

 

"Eleven hundred and three? You told us you were nine hundred and twelve the last time we saw you," Amy interrupted.

 

"And you've put on a couple of pounds. I wasn't going to mention it," he countered, as if Amy was being terribly rude.

 

_"Can you tell me now, why are we so out of sync in our timelines?"_ James asked him privately.

 

" _You'll see why very shortly. Trust me when I say that your mother and I are completely safe, but you need to make it look like this is real. We are being watched,"_ he responded.

 

Amy looked up towards a nearby hill, into the sunlight and asked, "Who's that?"

 

"Hmm? Who's who?" Rory questioned, leaning in front of her to block the sun where she was squinting.

 

"Sorry, what?" Amy asked as if she hadn't even asked her question.

 

"What did you see? You said you saw something," Rory told her.

 

"No, I didn't," Amy denied. Rory and James both looked at her curiously at that.

 

"Ah, the moon. Look at it. Of course, you lot did a lot more than look, didn't you? Big, silvery thing in the sky. You couldn't resist it. Quite right," the Doctor interrupted, changing the subject. This made James wonder if Amy had spotted the person that his father had said was watching them.

 

"The moon landing was in '69. Is that where we're going?" Rory suggested.

 

"Oh, a lot more happens in '69 than anyone remembers. Human beings. I thought I'd never get done saving you," the Doctor sighed.

 

"Come on, dad, you know we never will," James teased, but furrowed his brow when his father's answering smile looked sad.

 

_"Just remember that it isn't real, we are safe,"_ he assured him again, making James nervous for just what this would entail.

 

The group heard a pickup truck stop on the edge of the road nearby. An older gentleman stepped out of the truck and the Doctor waved to him.

 

"Who's he?" Amy asked.

 

"Oh, my God," River gasped and stared unblinkingly toward the lake. They all watched as someone in a NASA spacesuit emerged from the water.

 

James wrapped his arms around River reassuringly. He pressed his fingers to her temples to make a quick connection with her, _"Dad assures me that he is safe and this isn't real, but we need to pretend it is. We're being watched."_

 

 _"I know,"_ she replied through the link, her mental voice near sobbing. He sent her feelings of reassurance before breaking the connection.

 

"You all need to stay back. Whatever happens now, you do not interfere. Clear?" the Doctor instructed warningly. He got up from where he had been lounging on the picnic blanket and approached the astronaut by the water's edge.

 

"That's an astronaut. That's an Apollo astronaut in a lake," Rory stated disbelievingly.

 

"Yeah," Amy agreed breathlessly. They both gaped at the sight.

 

James focussed his senses so that he could hear what was being said between the stranger and his dad.

 

"Hello. It's okay. I know it's you," the Doctor told the person reassuringly. The astronaut raised the reflective visor on the helmet so that they could see each other, but the crowd by the blanket still didn't know who it might be. "This isn't your fault, I know they are forcing you. Just remember what Jamie told you after the wedding."

 

James wondered what that might be and whose wedding his father was referring to. Everyone gasped as the stranger raised their arm and shot the Doctor square in the chest.

 

"Doctor!" Amy shouted and started to run towards him.

 

"Amy, stay back!" River called to her and James and Rory both grabbed Amy's arms. "The Doctor said stay back! You have to stay back!"

 

"Dad! Oh my god, dad!" James cried, not having much trouble pretending that this sight was real, despite his father's reassurance.

 

"No! No! Doctor!" Amy sobbed and pulled against the men restraining her.

 

A golden light that was familiar to the other Time Lord began to glow around the Doctor and he turned to all of them as he sadly said, "I'm sorry."

 

The astronaut then shot him again and the glow faded when he fell to the ground, completely still. They all ran to his side as the stranger turned to walk back into the water. Everyone was shouting denials that the Doctor could possibly be dead. River scanned the body with her handheld computer and it showed signs that he was, in fact dead. In anger, she got up and emptied her gun in the direction of the retreating spacesuit.

 

James decided to run his screwdriver over the body as well. He got signs that indicated a teleport had occurred very recently and there was something not quite organic about the body, as if it were a very sophisticated imitation, rather than a real person.

 

"Jamie, he can't be dead. This isn't possible," Amy cried and tugged on his sleeve.

 

"There are very few ways to kill a Time Lord permanently. One of them is to kill them again before they've gotten through their regeneration completely," James explained without confirming or denying that the Doctor was actually dead.

 

"Maybe he's a clone or a duplicate or something," she sobbed and hugged the fallen body.

 

James was pretty sure that was exactly what had happened, but his father had told him that this charade needed to be believed, and Amy's reaction would certainly ensure that. He tried to keep his face in a look of shock since making the effort to cry would prevent him from being able to take in all the details surrounding him. The man from the truck had joined them by the body on the ground.

 

"I believe I can save you some time. That most certainly is the Doctor. And he is most certainly dead. He said you'd need this," the man said and handed James a can of gasoline.

 

"Gasoline?" Rory questioned.

 

"A Time Lord's body is a miracle. Even a dead one. There are whole empires out there who'd rip this world apart for just one cell. We can't leave him here. Or anywhere," River explained as James gulped, knowing what they would have to do.

 

"Wake up. Come on, wake up, you stupid, bloody idiot. What do we do, Jamie?" Amy pleaded, desperate for some kind of solution that would save her friend. She was sure that Jamie would be able to figure out something.

 

"I'm sorry, Amy," James told her sadly. Of course, he was sad that she was being put through this and he couldn't explain until they were out of sight.

 

They found a row boat on the shore and put the body into it before dousing it in gasoline and setting it alight. They pushed it out into the lake and watched as the large fire blazed.

 

"Who are you? Why did you come?" River asked the man beside them.

 

"The same reason as you," he replied as he held out a bright blue envelope that was familiar to all of them. "Jamie, Dr. Song, Amy, Rory. I'm Canton Everett Delaware the third. I won't be seeing you again, but you'll be seeing me."

 

They watched as Canton walked back to his truck and drove off.

 

"Five," River said suddenly.

 

"Sorry, what?" Rory asked.

 

"Of course! You are brilliant, my love!" James shouted and gave her a smacking kiss on the cheek.

 

"The Doctor numbered the envelopes," she explained, but Amy and Rory still didn't understand the importance.

 

James drove the car back to the diner where they had started and River explained what she had realized. "You got four, I was three, James was two, and Mister Delaware was five."

 

"So?" Rory questioned again.

 

"So, where's one, Rory?" James prompted.

 

"What, you think he invited someone else?" Rory asked.

 

"Well, he must have. He planned all of this, to the last detail," River reasoned.

 

"Will all of you just shut up? It doesn't matter," Amy shouted.

 

"The hell it doesn't!" Jamie snapped at her furiously.

 

"He was up to something," River insisted to Amy as she placed a calming hand on James' chest. She looked him in the eyes, urging him silently to calm down. They both knew that the Doctor was alright, but Amy didn't and she was rightfully upset.

 

"He's dead," she insisted.

 

"Space, 1969. What did he mean?" River asked, looking between the two men who were still paying attention and coherent.

 

"You're still talking, but it doesn't matter," Amy cried.

 

"Hey, it mattered to him," Rory told her.

 

"And you'd better believe it matters to us. Has my dad ever done anything that didn't affect hundreds or thousands of lives?" James told her insistently.

 

"He's dead," she protested weakly.

 

"But he still needs us. I know. Amy, I know. But right now we have to focus," River added.

 

"Look," Rory interrupted as he pointed to another blue envelope sitting at a nearby table. There was a half eaten basket of french fries and two mostly full bottles of Coke. He asked the busboy nearby, "Excuse me, who was sitting over there?"

 

"Some couple," he answered unhelpfully.

 

"The Doctor knew he was going to his death, so he sent out messages. When you know it's the end, who do you call?" River prompted.

 

"Er, your friends, family, people you trust," Rory answered.

 

"Number 1. Who did The Doctor trust the most?" River questioned as she held up the envelope and showed them the number one marked on the envelope.

 

"You know very well who, and she wasn't here today," James commented.

 

The back doors of the diner opened then, and the Doctor and Rose walked in, chatting about something. They turned to look at the group staring at them for a moment before James leapt to embrace his father fiercely.

 

"Dad!" he cried into his shoulder.

 

"Or hello, as people used to say," he commented casually as he patted his son's back reassuringly.

 

"Doctor?" Amy questioned confusedly.

 

"We just popped out to get my special straw. It adds more fizz," he explained.

 

"What's going on?" Rose asked, concerned by the emotions she was sensing from her son.

 

"You're okay. How can you be okay?" Amy asked and moved to give him a hug as well.

 

"Hey, of course I'm okay. I'm always okay. I'm the King of Okay," he told her as he patted her back as well. "Oh, that's a rubbish title. Forget that title. Rory the Roman! That's a good title," he added when Rose giggled. "Hello, Rory. And Dr. River Song. Keeping Jamie on his toes, I'm guessing."

 

River glared at him and James pulled her back from him. No matter how upset she was with him for putting them through this, she needed to hold back just as much as he needed to let Amy rant earlier.

 

"Okay. I'm assuming that look is for something I haven't done yet," he said, hiding slightly behind his wife.

 

"Yes, it is," Dr. Song growled at him.

 

"Good. Looking forward to it," he replied warily.

 

"I don't understand. How can you be here?" Rory questioned.

 

"We were invited. We've got a date, time, and coordinates.Just like all of you, I assume, otherwise it's one hell of a coincidence," Rose answered for him. "Now enough with the evasive answers, what is going on?"

 

"Jamie, what's going on?" Amy asked, not wanting to do any of those scary paradox things they were always talking about.

 

"When are you? When was the last time you saw me?" James asked his parents.

 

"You left the TARDIS a couple of weeks ago for Torchwood, right after Amy and Rory's various honeymoons. Your mother and I have been taking a bit of a break. Spoiling her a bit, you know?" the Doctor replied and hugged his wife from behind.

 

"I don't understand," Amy protested.

 

"Yeah, you do," Rory told her, having caught onto the fact that this Doctor was much younger than he one they saw earlier that day.

 

"I don't! What are we all doing here?" Rose shouted frustratedly, still looking for an answer to her earlier question.

 

"We've been recruited. Something to do with space 1969, and a man called Canton Everett Delaware the third," River explained.

 

"Recruited by who?" the Doctor wondered cautiously.

 

"Someone who trusts you more than anybody else in the universe," River assured him.

 

"The only people that come to mind there are already standing here," he insisted.

 

"Spoilers," River responded.

 

_"We have a bit of a circular paradox on our hands, dad. You need to trust us for a bit, please?"_ James told both his parents silently, unsure if they were still being watched.

 

The Doctor looked at James for a moment to gauge his sincerity, then to Rose who nodded her agreement. "Fine, into the TARDIS, so we can take care of whatever is happening."

 

 


	3. Impossible Astronaut: Par2

Chapter 3: The Impossible Astronaut - Part 2

 

 

They all filed into the time machine that was parked just outside of the back door of the diner and everyone moved towards the console. The Doctor twirled around it, flicking buttons as he began a search.

 

"1969, that's an easy one! Funny, how some years are easy. Now, 1482, full of glitches. Now then, Canton Everett Delaware the third. That was his name, yeah? How many of those can there be? Well, three, I suppose," the Doctor rambled.

 

River led Amy and Rory over to the stairway that led to the little area below the console room and looked at James meaningfully.

 

"Mum, dad, can you just give us a minute? I want to make sure they understand the rules right now, yeah?" James pleaded, having already explained that there was a circular paradox that needed to be worked through. His parents nodded reluctantly and James joined the others privately, where River was already explaining.

 

"Explain it again," Amy insisted.

 

"The Doctor we saw on the beach is a future version, two hundred years older than the one up there," River told her.

 

"But all that's still going to happen. He's still going to die," she argued angrily.

 

"We're all going to do that, Amy," a River told her.

 

"Alright, let's stop right there. I'm not sure exactly how, because we haven't done it yet, but he's going to be fine through all of it. You said it yourself Amy. Duplicate. He told me, however, that we were being watched. It had to look like he died permanently, it had to be believable. And, feeling out the timelines, we can't tell mum and dad about it yet," James explained hoping to skip all of the arguing and huffing over things not being worth fighting for.

 

"We have to tell him," Amy insisted.

 

"We've told him all we can. We can't even tell him we've seen his future self. He's interacted with his own past. It could rip a hole in the universe," River told them.

 

"We have to follow through with the clues dad left for us. We have to do this. Dad from the future told us everything that he could, so that we could come back here and do the things that he remembers doing with us right now. It's called a circular paradox. We have to complete the circle properly or the whole universe will collapse. Him  _not_ telling us much, left us  more room to work with without destroying everything by deviating from it. You cannot tell mum or dad about what happened . Y ou can't even hint at it," James insisted.

 

"Alright, I get it. But I don't have to like it," Amy sighed.

 

Everyone rejoined the couple back by the console then, prompting the Doctor to start rambling again. "Time isn't a straight line. It's all bumpy wumpy. There's loads of boring stuff like Sundays and Tuesdays and Thursday afternoons. But now and then there are Saturdays. Big temporal tipping points when anything's possible. The TARDIS can't resist them, like a moth to a flame. She loves a party, so I give her 1969 and NASA, because that's space in the sixties, and Canton Everett Delaware the third, and this is where she's pointing."

 

"Washington D.C., April the eighth, 1969. So why haven't we landed?" Rose announced as she looked over his shoulder at the monitor.

 

"Because we need to be extremely careful before landing anywhere. So! Canton Everett Delaware the third. Who's he?" the Doctor questioned and James started searching the computer.

 

"Records say, Ex FBI. Got kicked out," James replied.

 

"Why?" he asked.

 

"It says  _attitude problems,_ whatever that means. Six weeks after he left the Bureau, the President contacted him for a private meeting," James read aloud.

 

"Yeah, 1969. Who's President?" the Doctor questioned as he tried to remember the fact from his knowledge of rulers on billions of planets throughout time and space.

 

"Richard Milhous Nixon. Vietnam, Watergate. There's some good stuff, too," River informed him.

 

"Not enough," the Doctor grumbled.

 

"Hippie!" she teased.

 

"Archaeologist," he countered.

 

"Yeah, enough of that, you two. I know getting along is a bit out of character when you get together, but do you think we could focus for a bit?" Rose interjected, crossing her arms over her chest.

 

"Quite right, my love, sorry. Okay, since I don't know what I'm getting into this time, for once I'm being discreet. I'm putting the engines on silent," he told them as he flicked a lever and an alarm sounded, until James followed behind his father and moved it the other way.

 

"Did you do something, Jamie?" he questioned suspiciously.

 

"Not a thing, dad," he said with an innocent smile.

 

"Putting the outer shield on invisible. I haven't done this in a while. Big drain on the power," the Doctor explained and activated a few other controls, a bright light nearly blinding them in the room.

 

"You can turn the TARDIS invisible?" Rory wondered, it did seem like a handy idea.

 

"Ha!" he cried triumphantly.

 

James pulled River along behind him to show her what he was doing. He adjusted the controls again and the lighting in the console room returned to normal.

 

"Er, did you touch something?" he asked again, eyeing both of them warily.

 

"Just admiring your skills, sweetie," River teased him.

 

"Good. You might learn something. Okay. Now I can't check the scanner. It doesn't work when we're cloaked. Just give us a mo," he told them as he reflexively grabbed Rose's hand and the others followed them towards the doors. "Whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa. You lot, wait a moment. We're in the middle of the most powerful city in the most powerful country on Earth. Let's take it slow."

 

The Doctor and Rose exited the TARDIS together quietly and James moved back to the console to activate the scanner. Again, he made sure to show River what he was doing, since he now knew that one day, they'd have their own TARDIS to fly.

 

"I thought he said the scanner wouldn't work?" Amy asked as she watched her friend show up his father once more.

 

"Come on, Amy, you know I've studied the manual more than him. Of course it'll work," he told her confidently and flicked the last switch so that they could see what was happening outside.

 

\--'-{@ @}-'--

 

Rose and the Doctor stood silently, just outside of their invisible time ship, listening to the phone call that President Nixon was recording.

 

"Hello? Who is this? This is President Nixon. Who's calling? Is this you again?" the President questioned.

 

"Mister President?" came the voice of a small child through the speaker.

 

"A child?" asked the young man across from him, presumably Canton.

 

"This is the President, yes," he responded.

 

"I'm scared, Mister President. I'm scared of the spaceman," the child informed him, her voice trembling.

 

"A little girl?" Canton guessed.

 

"Boy," the President corrected.

 

"How can you be sure?" he asked reasonably.

 

"What spaceman? Where are you phoning from? Where are you right now? Who are you?" Nixon insisted. 

 

The Doctor was taking in all the facts, but didn't want to forget anything important, especially knowing that he was dealing with a circular paradox situation. He didn't know exactly what this circle involved, but he wasn't about to blow up the universe by forgetting some important clue, so he took a small notebook from his pocket and started writing down all the important facts.

 

"Jefferson, Adams, Hamilton," the child responded.

 

"Jefferson, listen to me," the President began, but the call was disconnected.

 

"Surely this is something the Bureau could handle, sir," Canton insisted.

 

"These calls happen wherever I am. How do I know the Bureau isn't involved? I can't trust anyone..." Nixon started, but trailed off when he noticed the two strangers standing in the room. Canton stood up to face them as well.

 

Rose watched as her husband kept scribbling notes and gestured for the conversation to continue without looking up. She reached into his pocket for the psychic paper and he finally looked up to see that they'd been noticed.

 

"Oh. Hello. Bad moment," the Doctor stuttered.

 

"Well, we must have gotten lost from our tour group! They back this way?" Rose tried as she tugged him back towards their ship. He nodded in agreement and turned quickly, running straight into the invisible ship and falling comedically to the ground.

 

There was a bit of a scuffle as security stormed into the room and the Doctor shouted over the commotion, "Jamie, make her blue again!"

 

The TARDIS promptly appeared in the room, shocking the agents enough for the Doctor and Rose to escape their grasp and get behind the President's desk.

 

"What the hell is that?" Nixon questioned in shock.

 

The Doctor sat in the President's chair and put his feet up on the desk. He tugged a surprised Rose down onto his lap and smirked at her. "Mister President, that child just told you everything you need to know, but you weren't listening. Never mind, though, because the answer's yes. I'll take the case. Fellows, the guns, really? We just walked into the highest security office in the United States and parked a big blue box on the rug. Do you think you can just shoot us?" He asked confidently.

 

"Doctor, they're Americans!" River reminded him as the rest of their team walked out of the TARDIS with hands raised.

 

"Don't shoot. Definitely no shooting," he responded fumbling between putting his own hands up and trying to shield his wife at the same time.

 

"Nobody shoot us either. Very much not in need of getting shot. Look, we've got our hands up," Rory mumbled fearfully.

 

"Who the hell are you?" the President asked as he approached the Doctor.

 

"Sir, you need to stay back," Canton warned him protectively.

 

"But who are they and what is that box?" he wondered.

 

"It's a police box. Can't you read? I'm your new undercover agent on loan from Scotland Yard. Code name the Doctor. These are my top operatives, Bad Wolf, the Legs, the Nose, Junior, and Mr s. Robinson," the Doctor replied as he indicated the rest of his little group. Rose held up the psychic paper as proof of their claim.

 

"I hate you," River growled and shook her head at his reference to the apparent age difference between her and James.

 

"No, you don't," he teased.

 

"Who are you?" Nixon asked, still confused by their presence.

 

"Nah, boring question. Who's phoning you? That's interesting. Because Canton Three is right. That was definitely a girl's voice, which means there's only one place in America she can be phoning from," the Doctor informed them.

 

"Where?" Canton asked curiously.

 

"Do not engage with the intruders, Mister Delaware," one of the security agents warned, keeping his gun trained on the Doctor and Rose.

 

"You heard everything I heard. It's simple enough. Give me five minutes, I'll explain. On the other hand, lay a finger on me or my friends, and you'll never, ever know," the Doctor countered.

 

"How did you get it in here? I mean, you didn't carry it in," Canton reasoned.

 

"Clever, eh?" Rose said with her teasing grin.

 

"Love it," he replied.

 

"Do not compliment the intruders," the agent insisted.

 

"Five minutes?" Canton asked.

 

"Five," the Doctor confirmed.

 

"Mister President, that man is a clear and present danger to..." the agent argued, but was interrupted.

 

"Mister President, that man walked in here with a big blue box and five of his friends, and that's the man he walked past. One of them's worth listening to. I say we give him five minutes. See if he delivers," Canton suggested.

 

"Thanks, Canton," Rose beamed at him.

 

"If he doesn't, I'll shoot him myself," he added.

 

"Not so thanks," the Doctor grumbled.

 

"Sir, I cannot recommend..." the security agent insisted.

 

"Shut up, Peterson! All right, five minutes," the President snapped angrily.

 

"I'm going to need a SWAT team, ready to mobilize. Street level maps covering all of Florida. A pot of coffee, twelve Jammie Dodgers, and a fez," the Doctor listed excitedly.

 

"No fez," Rose told them earning herself an indignant look from her husband.

 

"Get him his maps," Canton responded.

 

Rose smirked. She knew that was really the only thing that he needed. Her husband just wanted to start ordering around the Americans for fun, really. They spread all the maps across the desk and floor of the room. The Doctor informed Rose and Jamie telepathically what they were looking for so that they could help him find it more quickly. He didn't want to just tell the Americans the answer or they'd go blundering in without him and ruin any chances of getting that little girl out alive.

 

"Why Florida?" Canton wondered as he watched them scanning the maps.

 

"There's where NASA is. She mentioned a spaceman. NASA's where the spacemen live. Also, there's another lead I'm following," the Doctor responded distractedly.

 

"A spaceman, like the one we saw at the lake," James heard Amy whispering and hoped his father was too distracted to have noticed.

 

"Maybe. Probably," River replied quietly. James wished that he had a connection with her now so that he could tell her to get Amy to keep her mouth shut about the things his parents weren't supposed to know yet. But it wasn't time for that yet, he could feel it.

 

"I remember," Amy suddenly whispered and James looked over to see her staring blankly at the doorway.

 

"Amy? What do you remember?" Rory asked, stepping in front of her.

 

James looked towards where she had been staring, but there was nothing there. Something wasn't making sense.

 

"I don't know. I just..." Amy told him, clearly confused about what she was going to say.

 

"Amy, what's wrong?" Rory asked worriedly.

 

"Amy?" River questioned.

 

"Are you all right?" the Doctor added from where they were still looking at maps.

 

"Yeah. No, I'm fine. I'm just feeling a little sick. Excuse me, is there a toilet or something?" she responded, sounding a little shaken.

 

"Sorry, ma'am, while this procedure's ongoing, you must remain within the Oval Office," the agent from earlier insisted.

 

"Shut up and take her to the restroom," Canton snapped at them for being ridiculous. It certainly wouldn't be worth the trouble if they suddenly had to scrub vomit out of the carpet.

 

"This way, ma'am," another agent instructed.

 

"Thanks," Amy mumbled.

 

Rose was going to offer to go with her, but with the way security was behaving, they would probably think it was some kind of plan or trick. She watched as the one called Peterson stopped Rory from following her.

 

"Your five minutes are up," Canton told them warningly.

 

"Yeah, and where's my fez?" the Doctor replied.

 

The phone started ringing again and Canton questioned, "The kid?"

 

"Should I answer it?" the President wondered nervously.

 

"I found it!" Rose called suddenly and her husband jumped to her side to confirm. He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

 

"Here! The only place in the United States that call could be coming from. See? Obvious, when you think about it," he said as he showed Canton what they had found.

 

"You, sir, are a genius," Canton told him in awe.

 

"It's a hobby," he replied cheekily.

 

"Mister President, answer the phone," Canton instructed.

 

"Hello. This is President Nixon," he said in greeting when he pressed the button to answer and record the call.

 

"It's here! The spaceman's here! It's going to get me! It's going to eat me!" the frightened child shouted through the phone.

 

"There's no time for a SWAT team. Let's go. Mister President, tell her help's on the way. Canton, on no account follow me into this box and close the door behind you," the Doctor called as he leapt to his feet and dragged his wife back into their ship.

 

James, River, Amy, and Rory followed quickly, knowing that they had to act fast if they were going to rescue this child from the thing that was after her.

 

"What the hell are you doing?" Canton shouted and chased them into the TARDIS. His steps stopped dead as he took in the size of the interior of the ship. Rory shut the door behind him so that the Time Lords could pilot the ship out of there.

 

"Jefferson isn't a girl's name. It's not her name either. Jefferson, Adams, Hamilton. Rose, care to enlighten them?" the Doctor prompted.

 

"Surnames of three of America's founding fathers," she replied with a smile.

 

"Lovely fellows. Two of them fancied me," he added.

 

"You're fooling yourself. They were staring at me, not you," she teased and he pulled her up against him possessively.

 

"Are you okay? Coping?" Rory asked the man who still stared, gobsmacked, in the entrance to the ship.

 

"You see, the President asked the child two questions. Where are you, and who are you. She was answering where," the Doctor told them, continuing his explanation as he piloted the ship to their destination.

 

"It's bigger on the inside," Canton finally managed to say.

 

"Yeah, you get used to it," Rory said, not really helping the man cope at the moment.

 

"Now, where would you find three big, historical names in a row like that?" the Doctor prompted, pressing the buttons to complete the landing procedure.

 

"Where?" Amy asked.

 

"Here. Come on," he called as he took his wife's hand and pulled her with him to the doors, knowing the others would follow. They stopped for a moment when they saw that Canton was still a little shocked by it all.

 

"It's er..." Canton stuttered to the Doctor.

 

"Are you taking care of this?" the Doctor asked Rory.

 

"Why is it always my turn?" he countered.

 

"Because you're the newest," Amy told her husband and followed the others out the door. "Where are we?" she asked as she took in the dingy office space that they landed in.

 

"About five miles from Cape Kennedy Space Centre. It's 1969, the year of the moon. Interesting, don't you think?" the Doctor informed her.

 

"But why would a little girl be here?" Amy wondered.

 

"I don't know. Lost me a bit. The President asked the girl where she was, and she did what any lost little girl would do. She looked out of the window," he replied and gestured to the little window for her to look outside.

 

"Streets. Of course, street names," Amy said when she saw the signs nearby. As she was doing that, River picked up the desk phone to listen and held it up for James to listen as well. There was no dial tone.

 

"The only place in Florida, probably all of America, with those three street names on the same junction. Aren't I brilliant, my love?" he asked and turned to look proudly at his wife.

 

"Of course you are. You married me didn't you?" she teased.

 

He growled at her and pulled her into a quick snog before checking the phone himself and leading them all out into the next room. He turned back, however, when he heard Canton.

 

"We've moved. How, how can we have moved?" Canton asked in shock .

 

"You haven't even got to space travel yet?" the Doctor chastised.

 

"I was going to cover it with time travel," Rory responded.

 

"Time travel?" Canton gasped.

 

"Brave heart, Canton. Come on," he urged. That phrase had always helped Teagan after all.

 

"So we're in a box that's bigger on the inside, and it travels through time and space." Canton asked, looking to confirm his deduction.

 

"Yeah, basically," Rory replied.

 

"How long have Scotland Yard had this?" he wondered and they followed the others into the larger room.

 

"It's a warehouse of some kind, disused," River announced and started scanning the area with her computer.

 

"You realize this is almost certainly a trap, of course?" the Doctor told her.

 

"When isn't it a trap?" Rose added.

 

"I noticed the phone, yes," River responded and showed her readings to James.

 

"What about it?" Amy wondered.

 

"It was cut off. So how did the child phone from here?" James answered, having drawn the same conclusion as River.

 

"Okay, but why would anyone want to trap us?" Amy asked, prompting a  bark of laughter from Rose.

 

"Dunno. Let's see if anyone tries to kill us and work backwards," the Doctor replied as he examined their surroundings with his wife.

 

"Now, why would a little girl be here?" River questioned.

 

"I don't know. Let's find her and ask her," the Doctor suggested.

 

"I think we ought to get her out of here before we have that conversation," Rose added, wrapping her arms around herself to keep out the chill.

 

They came across what looked like some kind of alien examination table. Both River and James scanned it as they approached. The Doctor and Rose moved past to look inside the piles of crates nearby.

 

"It's non-terrestrial. Definitely alien. Probably not even from this time zone," River informed them.

 

"I don't recognize the species source, dad," James added.

 

"Which is odd, because look at this!" he cried out excitedly as he excitedly pulled a NASA helmet out of a nearby crate.

 

"It's Earth tech. It's contemporary," James said as he looked at the box of equipment.

 

"It's very contemporary. Cutting edge. This is from the space program," the Doctor told them.

 

"Stolen?" River wondered.

 

"What, by aliens?" Amy questioned incredulously.

 

"Apparently," the Doctor replied.

 

"Why would they do that, though?" Rose asked as she picked up the glove of a space suit and tried fitting her hand inside.

 

"Yeah, I mean, if you can make it all the way to Earth, why steal technology that can barely make it to the moon?" Amy agreed.

 

"Maybe because it's cooler? Look how cool this stuff is!" the Doctor exclaimed as he put the helmet on his head to show the others.

 

"Cool aliens?" Amy scoffed.

 

"Well, what would you call me?" he countered.

 

"An alien," she replied, making the others laugh.

 

"Oi!" the Doctor protested and Rose bopped him on the nose with the glove she was wearing.

 

"I, er, I think he's okay now," Rory called from the doorway as he entered with Canton.

 

"Ah! Back with us, Canton?" the Doctor questioned as he put the helmet back in the box.

 

"I like your wheels," the man responded, thumbing over his shoulder towards their ship.

 

"That's my boy," the Doctor responded proudly. "So, come on. Little girl. Let's find her," he added, pulling Rose and Canton with him to look around the rest of the warehouse.

 

Amy moved next to River and James as they examined the alien technology on the table further. There were thick cables hanging from the ceiling over the table, ending in what looked like blobs of slime.

 

"River," Amy began.

 

"I know what you're thinking," she replied.

 

"No, you don't," the ginger argued.

 

"You're thinking if we can find the spaceman in 1969 and neutralize it, then it won't be around in 2011 to kill the Doctor," a River responded.

 

"Okay, lucky guess," Amy admitted.

 

"It's only because I was thinking it too," River told her.

 

"And you two both need to stop right there," James insisted.

 

"I know, love. It doesn't work like that. We came here because of what we saw in the future. If we try and prevent the future from happening, we create a paradox," River explained to Amy.

 

"Time can be rewritten," Amy argued.

 

"I already told you. We have a circle here. What we have already seen, has to happen as we saw it or the universe falls apart. Now remember what I told you and stop talking about it. My dad's hearing is far better than you realize and he can't know about these things yet," James insisted, not sure if they were being watched here, so he wouldn't remind her that he knew his father survived.

 

"What's this?" River asked as she followed one of the cables towards a hole in the floor. She opened a manhole cover on the floor and looked down.

 

"Doctor? Look at this," River called and the others returned to the area.

 

"So where does that go?" the Doctor questioned.

 

"There's a network of tunnels running under here," River answered as she checked the scans on her computer.

 

"Life signs?" James asked.

 

"No, nothing that's showing up," River replied.

 

"Those are the worst kind," the Doctor warned.

 

James moved to follow her down and his dad grabbed his arm to say, "Be careful."

 

"Careful? We tried that once. Ever so dull," River teased.

 

"Shout if you get in trouble," the Doctor instructed.

 

"Enough, dad, we can take care of ourselves," James grumbled as he followed River down the ladder.

 

"Tell me what's going on here, and what does he mean, dad? He's like the same age as you," Canton insisted.

 

"We moisturize," Rose joked.

 

"Quite right, I look fantastic for nine hundred and twelve. And don't you dare ask my wife's age, that's rude," the Doctor added and wrapped his arms around Rose's waist.

 

"Moving on to the alien incursion?" Rory prompted in the hopes of pausing the public displays of affection.

 

"Okay," the Doctor agreed and went back to examine the contents of the warehouse again.

 

\--'-{@ @}-'--

 

Down in the tunnels, River pulled James into a passionate snog. When she finally stopped to breathe, she held him desperately tight.

 

"What is it, love? What's wrong?" James questioned worriedly. He had never seen her so flustered before.

 

"We're about to come to a point where I'm going to need your help badly, so you need to know this and you cannot tell anyone. Promise me!" she insisted, tears forming in her eyes.

 

James nodded wordlessly and ran his fingers reassuringly through her hair a few times to help her calm down.

 

River pressed her fingers against his temples to explain silently in case they were being watched.  _"I'm the little girl. The creatures here experimented on me. I can't tell you why, but when you get the chance later, you have to get her away. She's going to be near dying and you need to have her look into the Time Vortex in the TARDIS. Then get her to Leadworth and into the foster care system after she regenerates. I'm sure the TARDIS can give you the right date, but you'll figure it out fairly quickly,"_ River explained.

 

"How?" he gasped, tears now falling from his own eyes as he considered all the pain that his love had gone through as a child.

 

"I can't tell you. This is what I remember and you have to live it through to find out," she insisted, holding him tightly.

 

_"Oh, River. I'm so sorry that this happened to you. Why foster care? Can't we keep you safe in the TARDIS?"_ James pleaded silently, understanding why she was keeping silent as she explained it, not wanting to put her through that kind of childhood.

 

River shook her head,  _"They'd find me if I stayed with you. Besides, it's what I remember. I won't have you blowing a hole in the universe to change my childhood,"_ she insisted.

 

They turned at the glimpse of movement nearby and saw a tall creature with a large, grey face and no mouth. It made some kind of clicking noise and James urged River back up the ladder so that they could warn his parents about it. When they got to the top of the ladder, however, they couldn't remember why they had come back up before exploring the tunnels.

 

"It's all clear down there, but we ought to look a bit further down," James called to them.

 

"Please be careful, sweetheart," Rose answered.

 

"Will do, mum," he replied and started back down the ladder, helping River off of it at the bottom. He considered what she had revealed to him earlier. She admitted that she could regenerate. He didn't know how that was possible, considering she only had one heart and there's no way he would marry his sister, but there was only his dad left of the Time Lords. Considering she could regenerate however, and knowing that she would grow up in Leadworth, he had a pretty good idea of why River couldn't be at Amy and Rory's wedding. She was already there.

 

"Are you okay, love?" he asked her worriedly as River leaned against the wall for a moment.

 

"Ah. Yes, yes. I just felt a bit sick. It's the prison food, probably. Okay, this way? What do you think?" she responded, still seeming a bit flustered.

 

"Can you be more specific with when I need to help you?" he questioned quietly.

 

"As soon as the opportunity presents itself," she answered quickly and promptly changed the subject. "That's interesting. These tunnels are old. Really old. How can they be really old and nobody notice them?"

 

They came upon a large metal door and James commented, "It's a maintenance hatch."

 

"It's locked. Oh, why do people always lock things?" she asked teasingly and started to work on picking the lock.

 

"Allow me, love," he responded and sonicked it more effectively. He whispered in her ear, "Are you avoiding the topic now because you think we're being watched?"

 

She hummed her agreement as the lock lit up and released. "Keep a look out for me, love?"

 

"Absolutely," he told her and gave her a quick kiss before she walked into the room beyond.

 

The room had an eerie glow from what looked like a TARDIS type console in the middle. River approached it and they noticed an odd mist along the floor.

 

"What is this place?" James wondered.

 

River rushed to the control panel as an angry buzz sounded from above them. "That's an alarm. Check if anything's coming," she told him.

 

James turned to look out the door and saw a group of the same aliens they had seen earlier. How had they forgotten about that? He turned back to warn River and get them out of there, but as soon as he looked towards her, he just remembered seeing an empty tunnel.

 

"There's nothing coming yet," he called over to her. 

 

"These tunnels, they're not just here, they're everywhere. They're running under the surface of the entire planet. They've been here for centuries," River gasped.

 

The lights in the room started flickering and they both glanced around, looking for any immediate threats. "Let's get out of here, love," James shouted and grabbed her hand as he led her back toward the ladder they had used before.

 

\--'-{@ @}-'--

 

Back in the warehouse, Amy, Canton, and Rory were looking through the boxes for any more suspicious technology while Rose and the Doctor examined the alien equipment.

 

"So, you were kicked out of the FBI because you had attitude problems?" Amy asked, remembering what James had found out in his research on Canton.

 

"No, I just wanted to get married," he replied.

 

"Is that a crime?" she questioned.

 

"Yes," he responded and Amy realized that it must not have been a traditional marriage that he was looking for. "Doctor who, exactly? he asked, changing the subject.

 

"Ah. That's classified," Amy told him, trying to keep up the pretence of being secret agents.

 

"Classified by who?" he questioned, calling her out.

 

"God knows," she sighed.

 

"Do you work for him?" he asked.

 

"No, it's more like we travel with their family," Rory interjected.

 

"They're our friends. We haven't seen them in a while. I had something I wanted to tell them, but stuff always gets in the way," Amy explained and exchanged a look with her husband.

 

"Stuff does that," Canton responded.

 

Everyone stopped what they were doing immediately when they heard the little girl screaming, "Help me! Help! Help me!"

 

"That's her," Canton shouted and ran towards the voice.

 

All of them moved to follow until Amy bent over, clutching at her stomach.

 

"Amy!" Rory cried and checked on her. 

 

"Amy?" the Doctor questioned, though it was clear that he was torn between helping her and helping the child.

 

"Help me! Please!" the girl continued to plead.

 

"I need..." Amy began. She nodded at Rory to go with a knowing look.

 

"What's wrong?" the Doctor asked urgently.

 

"Go on, love. I'll stay with her," Rose insisted as Canton called for him.

 

"I need to tell you something. It's important," Amy told Rose, her voice trembling.

 

"Canton! Canton, are you okay?" they could hear the Doctor calling from deeper in the warehouse.

 

"Is he all right?" Rose called to him from where she and Amy were huddled on the floor together.

 

"Just unconscious. Got a proper whack," he shouted back to them.

 

"Rose, I need to tell you something. I have to tell you it now," Amy insisted.

 

"Your timing could be better, sweetheart," she teased, but looked worriedly towards where the others had gone.

 

"No, it's important. It has to be now," Amy told her.

 

"Help! Help me! Help me!" the little girl cried, sounding closer now.

 

"I'm pregnant," Amy finally admitted.

 

"Oh, but that's wonderful, why didn't you tell us before all of this mess?" Rose wondered.

 

They heard someone approaching and turned to see someone wearing one of the NASA spacesuits walking towards them. The Doctor and Rory skidded to a stop next to them and all four stared at it.

 

"That's it. The astronaut," Amy gasped.

 

The astronaut pointed towards the Doctor in a manner that was hauntingly familiar to Amy and Rory. The other hand of the spacesuit lifted the visor on the helmet to reveal the face of a frightened little girl. She had pale skin and dark hair as she once again shouted, "Help me!"

 

"Get down!" Amy cried desperately and Rory tackled the Doctor to the ground.

 

"What are you doing?" Rose questioned and started to rise towards the child, to help her, but Amy wrapped her arms around the woman to keep her back as well.

 

"Stop!" they heard James call desperately as he ran towards them, but the astronaut turned and disappeared into the darkness before he could reach them.

 


	4. Day of the Moon: Part 1

Chapter 4 - **Day of the Moon: part 1**

 

Looking around them, they noticed that they were surrounded by tall, grey-skinned aliens, wearing black suits. The sight of them triggered the memories of Amy, River, and James.

 

"I've seen these things before! Oh my god, how did I forget them?" Amy shouted.

 

"What the hell?" Canton questioned as he came around and joined them in staring at the creatures.

 

"We saw them too, down in the tunnels. It's like, as soon as I stopped looking at them, I forgot I had ever seen them," James added.

 

"Ooh, ok. Time for a plan, Rose, could you start a voice memo on your mobile?" the Doctor suggested.

 

"Got it, love," she said as she started recording.

 

"Ok, so, we are surrounded by aliens that we won't remember as soon as they aren't right in front of us. They seem to be responsible for keeping the mystery girl prisoner and stealing NASA technology for some unknown use. Any other information?" the Doctor announced loudly as they all backed carefully towards the TARDIS.

 

"The tunnels under here go beneath the surface of the whole planet and have been here for centuries," River added from what they had learned.

 

"There was one at the White House and where we were before the diner," Amy told them.

 

They had reached the TARDIS by then and everyone was ushered inside. As soon as the doors were shut, they all looked at each other confusedly.

 

"How did we end up in here?" James questioned.

 

"Why am I holding my phone? I've got a new voice memo," Rose realized. As she played it back, the Doctor started developing a plan.

 

"Ok, we need to know just how big of an alien force we are facing here. River said that the tunnels went all over the world, but is that just their method of travel or are they everywhere?" the Doctor asked.

 

"How are we supposed to find that out if we can't remember seeing them?" Rory pointed out.

 

"We need a way of documenting them while we see them. Something that will last long enough so that we can pass along the information," James suggested.

 

"How about using a marker on our hands? They can't take it away and it would last a day or two," Amy added thoughtfully.

 

"Brilliant. So, we split up to cover the most ground as quickly as possible. Everyone reports back daily with their counts and their locations to the TARDIS and we make up a database of the information," Rose told them.

 

"Perfect. But, I suggest keeping in pairs for safety. We don't know what these beings are or what they are capable of. Once we have a good sample size, I'll pick everyone up and get to the next part of the plan. Canton, are you in on the search?" the Doctor told them as he paced the console room.

 

"Absolutely," he replied, ready for action.

 

"Good! So, daily phone calls to the TARDIS, Rose and I will be with it, I'll have her work out map assignments for everyone so that we can get this done quickly. We still have a little girl to save," the Doctor announced.

 

Everyone was dropped off in various places across the US, while Rose and the Doctor used the TARDIS to check other places around the world. Within a few weeks, they had gathered all the data they needed. The aliens had started catching on that they were being found out and cornering them in large numbers. So, they had to jump in with the TARDIS to rescue their teams. Canton had been searching with a friend in the Midwest, but found themselves backed into a corner of a dark alleyway one evening. A quick call to the Doctor, and the ship materialized around them. 

 

After dropping off his friend safely at home, they received another call. Amy and Rory had been in the South and were almost backed off the edge of a cliff before they were picked up. James and River called for a rather dramatic pick up just as they jumped out the window of an under construction skyscraper in New York.

 

"Anything to show off, those two! Amy, Rory, open all the doors to the swimming pool," the Doctor called as he piloted the ship to land on the side of the building.

 

"Don't act like you haven't done your own fair share of jumping, Doctor. A certain planet orbiting a black hole comes to mind," Rose reminded him.

 

"More fun that way," he replied as both James and River fell through the console room and into the pool with a splash. They both came into the console room a few moments later wearing dry clothes, but towelling damp hair.

 

"So, we know they're everywhere. Not just a landing party, an occupying force, and they have been here a very, very long time. But nobody knows that, because no one can remember them," he announced as he finalized the controls to land them at a new location.

 

"So what are they up to?" Canton asked.

 

"No idea. But the good news is, we've got a secret weapon," he replied with a smirk and ran to open the doors.

 

They all stepped outside to see the Kennedy Space Centre in the distance with a Saturn V rocket preparing for lift-off. The Doctor and Rose smiled at each other, having already discussed this idea, but the others looked skeptical.

 

"Apollo 11's your secret weapon?" River asked, her arms crossed doubtfully across her chest.

 

"No, no. It's not Apollo 11. That would be silly. It's Neil Armstrong's foot," the Doctor replied, earning a giggle from his wife.

 

Filing back into the TARDIS, the Doctor had a small gun-like device in his hand and Rose cringed at it. He had already used it on her earlier and it was far from comfortable, even if it was a really good idea. The Doctor used his little device to inject something into Canton's palm. 

 

"Ow!" the young man shouted and examined the spot.

 

"Ha. So, three weeks. What have we found out?" the Doctor asked and twirled happily towards Rory.

 

"Well, they are everywhere. Every state in America. Ahh!" he gasped as the Doctor shot his hand as well.

 

"Not just America, the entire world," the Doctor told them. "Rose and I checked it out. Australia, China, Africa, England, Canada, Italy. Ooh, that was a fun trip, wasn't it, Rose? We found them everywhere."

 

"There's a greater concentration here, though," River commented as she looked over the map data on the monitor.

 

"Definitely. Highest concentration is definitely in Florida," James agreed.

 

"Ow!" Amy shouted as the Doctor attacked her hand with his little device.

 

"Are you okay?" he asked her, having heard the news from Rose about the pregnancy.

 

"All better," she said, slightly sadly.

 

"Better?" he asked, wondering how you got better from that. Pregnancy wasn't an illness to get over.

 

"Turns out I was wrong. I'm not pregnant," she answered softly.

 

"What's up?" Rory asked, noting she seemed upset.

 

"Nothing. Really, nothing. Seriously," she replied and they nodded to each other, expressing silently what it was all about.

 

"How long have they been here?" Canton asked, changing the subject.

 

"As long as there's been something in the corner of your eye, or creaking in your house, or breathing under your bed, or voices through a wall. They've been running your lives for a very long time now, so keep this straight in your head. We are not fighting an alien invasion, we're leading a revolution. And today, the battle begins," the Doctor told them.

 

"How?" Canton wondered.

 

"Like this," the Doctor said as he snuck a shot into River's hand.

 

"Ow!" she shouted and smacked him on the arm.

 

"Dad!" James chastised and kissed her sore spot.

 

"Oh, it's not so bad," he countered and shot his son's hand as well before doing his own and trying to hide his own wince at the pain. "Nano-recorder. Fuses with the cartilage in your hand. And it tunes itself directly to the speech centres in your brain. It'll pick up your voice, no matter what. Telepathic connection. So, the moment you see one of the creatures, you activate it," he said as he pressed the centre of his palm and a light beneath the skin glowed orange. "And describe aloud exactly what you're seeing."

 

Pressing the flashing light, his voice played back, "And describe aloud exactly what you're seeing."

 

"Because the moment you break contact, you're going to forget it happened. The light will flash if you've left yourself a message. You keep checking your hand if you've had an encounter. That's the first you'll know about it," he concluded.

 

"Here's the test," Rose said and flicked a switch on the console.

 

A hologram of the alien appeared by the doors. Everyone turned to look where Rose indicated. Canton pressed his palm reflexively.

 

"My God, how did it get in here?" Canton shouted.

 

"Keep eye contact with the creature and, when I say, turn back, and when you do, straighten my bow tie," the Doctor told him, then tapped him on the shoulder lightly.

 

Canton turned to face the Doctor, gave him a thoughtful look, then straightened his tie. Noticing the others looking at him oddly and at something over his shoulder, he asked, "What? What are you staring at?"

 

"Look at your hand," River told him.

 

He looked down to see a flashing orange light and wondered, "Why is it doing that?"

 

"What does it mean if the light's flashing? What did I just tell you?" the Doctor prompted, still looking at the hologram by the doors.

 

"I haven't.." he protested.

 

"Play it," Rose called to him.

 

They listened to the recording of his startled reaction and he turned to look at the hologram as well.

 

"It's a hologram, extrapolated from the photo on Amy's phone. Take a good, long look," the Doctor instructed, then nodded to Rose and she turned it off.

 

"You just saw an image of one of the creatures we're fighting," he told them all and snapped his fingers. "Describe it to me."

 

"I can't," Canton admitted defeatedly.

 

"No. Neither can I. You straightened my bow tie because I planted the idea in your head while you were looking at the creature," the Doctor informed them

 

"So they could do that to people. You could be doing stuff and not really knowing why you're doing it?" Amy questioned.

 

"Like posthypnotic suggestion," Rory realized.

 

"Ruling the world with posthypnotic suggestion?" Amy pondered.

 

"It would explain some of humanity's more outlandish decisions," Rose mumbled.

 

"Now then, a little girl in a spacesuit. They got the suit from NASA, but where did they get the girl?" the Doctor asked, moving on to the next part of the plan.

 

"It could be anywhere," Canton argued.

 

"Except they'd probably stay close to that warehouse, because why bother doing anything else? And they'd take her from somewhere that would cause the least amount of attention. But you'll have to find her. Rose and I are off to NASA," the Doctor told them.

 

"Find her? Where do we look?" Canton asked.

 

"Children's homes," the Doctor told him. "So, Canton, Amy..."

 

"And James," River interrupted and looked at James urgently. He nodded his agreement.

 

"Alright, Canton, Amy, and Jamie, you three are off to search for our mystery girl. That leaves Rory and River to make a trip to visit the President, just in case Rose and I get into any trouble," the Doctor told them.

 

"Which is quite likely," Rose added with a smirk.

 

\--'-{@ @}-'--

 

The last place on their list of children's homes in the area ended up seeming the most likely when they arrived. It was supposed to have been closed down years ago, but there were still lights on inside. After checking themselves for tally marks or recorded messages, they knocked on the door. A meek and filthy looking man opened the door and peeked out at them.

 

"Hello?" he asked.

 

"FBI. You must be Dr. Renfrew. Can we come in?" Canton informed him and displayed his credentials.

 

"The children are asleep," he told them.

 

"We'll be very quiet," Amy assured him.

 

"Is there a problem?" Dr. Renfrew asked, seeming to hope they would just leave.

 

"It's about a missing child," Canton told him firmly.

 

"What are you..? Yes, come in, please," he acquiesced. He seemed to want to argue, but nodded as he realized that it was his job to deal with something like that. "This way. Please excuse the writing. It keeps happening. I try to clean it up."

 

They walked up the staircase slowly. The wall beside them was covered in a drippy, red paint with the words 'GET OUT LEAVE NOW' written in huge letters. The edges were smeared where he had been scrubbing it off.

 

"It's the kids, yeah? They did that?" Amy asked.

 

"Yes, the children. It must be, yes," he said absently until he noticed the same words written in black on his own arm. He shook his head as if trying to rid it of cobwebs and continued up the stairs. "Anyway, my office is this way."

 

"We nearly didn't come to this place. I understood Graystark Hall was closed in '67," Canton told the nervous doctor.

 

"That's the plan, yes," he answered.

 

"The plan?" Amy asked, knowing it was well past that already.

 

"Not long now," Renfrew replied.

 

"It's 1969," Canton informed him.

 

"No, no. We close in '67. That's the plan, yes," Dr. Renfrew argued.

 

"You misunderstood me, sir. It's 1969 now," Canton responded.

 

"Why are you saying that? Of course it isn't," he said, shaking his head. "My office is this way. This way."

 

"Repeated memory wipes have fried his brain," James whispered to the others.

 

"I'll check upstairs," Amy announced.

 

"Be careful," Canton insisted.

 

"I'll go with her," James added and Canton nodded before following Dr. Renfrew to his office.

 

James and Amy explored the bedrooms upstairs. Broken toys were scattered around the floor and beds were lined up against the walls. There was writing around the room with the words 'Leave me alone' and 'Get out now.'

 

As they walked through the room, James called his parents. "Jamie? How's it going?" his mother asked.

 

"Pretty sure we've found the right place. It was supposed to be closed, but there's one guy still here and he appears to be a bit messed up from his memory being wiped repeatedly," he told them.

 

"Find out what you can, but don't hang around," the Doctor called over the speakerphone.

 

"I am hoping we'll find our little girl here somewhere," James insisted. "How's your plan going?"

 

"Oops! Got to go. Got company," Rose replied and cut the line.

 

"They getting into trouble already?" Amy asked when she noticed his smirk.

 

Before he could answer, they were both startled by the sound of the door slamming. They ran towards it to try and get out, finding it locked. As James moved to work on it with his sonic, Amy noticed the light in her hand flashing.

 

"I can see them, but I think they're asleep. Get out. Just get out!" Amy's recording sounded.

 

They turned to face each other and suddenly saw tally marks on each other's arms. James' hand was flashing now too.

 

"You have to find her and get her out of here. Look up," sounded his voice recording.

 

As the two of them looked at the ceiling, they saw dozens of them hanging like bats. James got the door open and they slammed it shut behind them. As they caught their breath, they looked around and both realized that they had probably just forgotten an encounter again.

 

\--'-{@ @}-'--

 

Rose and the Doctor sat side by side on the hard wooden chairs. They were in a large lecture hall, filled with chalkboards and diagrams. A model of the lunar lander sat on a table nearby. The couple were handcuffed and a security officer stood menacingly behind them as they faced the two NASA officials.

 

"Now, one more time, sir. How the hell did you get into the command module?" asked the man they had learned was named Gardener.

 

"We told you. We're on a top secret mission for the President," the Doctor replied petulantly and punctuated it by biting on the chain of his cuffs.

 

"Well, maybe if you just get President Nixon to assure us of that, sir, that would be swell," the man scoffed.

 

"Well, it's a good thing we sent him a message then, isn't it?" Rose responded confidently.

 

As if waiting for their cue, the door opened to reveal River and Rory accompanying President Nixon. They were both dressed for the era in sharp business suits.

 

"Hello. I believe it's Mister Gardner. Is that correct? Head of Security?" Nixon asked and extended his hand in greeting.

 

"Er, yes sir. Yes, Mister President," Gardener replied nervously and shook his hand.

 

"Mister Grant, is it?" the President addressed the other man.

 

"Yes, Mister President," he answered, seeming flattered that the president would have any idea who he was.

 

"The hopes and dreams of millions of Americans stand here today at Cape Kennedy, and you're the men who guard those dreams. On behalf of the American people, I thank you," Nixon praised them.

 

"You're welcome, Mister President," Gardener replied.

 

"I understand you have a baby on the way, Mister Grant," he commented, trying to put them at ease as only a politician could.

 

"Yes, Mister President," Grant told him happily.

 

"What are you hoping for, a boy or a girl?"

 

"Just a healthy American, sir," he answered.

 

"A healthy American will do just nicely," Nixon chuckled with a friendly nudge to the man's shoulder with his fist. "Now, fellows, listen. These fine people here, code named the Doctor and Bad Wolf, are doing some work for me personally. Could you cut them a little slack?"

 

"Er, Mister President, they did break in to Apollo 11," Gardener informed him.

 

Nixon shot the Doctor a questioning look and he silently mouthed, "Sorry," over the men's shoulders.

 

"Well, I'm sure he had a very good reason for that. But I need you to release them now so they can get on with some very important work for the American people. Could you do that for me?"

 

"Well.." Grant began.

 

"Son, I am your Commander in Chief," Nixon reminded them.

 

"Then I guess that would be fine, Mister President," Gardener answered quickly, hoping to stay on the man's good side.

 

"Glad to hear it," the President replied as the Doctor and Rose were released.

 

"Thank you. Bye, bye," the Doctor announced as he bounced to his feet and pulled Rose along behind him, followed by River and Rory.

 

\--'-{@ @}-'--

 

James and Amy continued exploring the rooms of the orphanage. While checking what seemed to be a room for only one person, he heard Amy speaking in the hallway, "Hello. Who are you? Hello? I saw you looking through the hatch."

 

He went back into the corridor to see what was going on, but she was alone. "Amy? Is everything alright? Who were you talking to?"

 

"There was... I swear there was a hatch in this door. A woman was looking at me and then it closed and disappeared," she told him.

 

James looked at the solid wood door and wondered what in the world would have her hallucinating like that, but stranger things had happened in his life. "Noted. Let's check out this room then," he said as he opened the door.

 

Inside, they found the first signs that anyone was actually living in the building. There was a small lamp glowing in the corner, several toys on the shelves and the bed was made up neatly. James felt his hearts breaking for River to have grown up here with monsters and one crazy caretaker.

 

Amy was looking at the items on top of a chest of drawers and found a picture. "How? How can that be me?" she gasped and James looked at it over her shoulder. The photo was indeed of Amy, holding an infant. They were both all dressed in white and the room behind them seemed to be completely white as well.

 

James realized then that River had to be Amy's daughter. How that meant that she could regenerate, he had no idea, but it was the only explanation for the photo. They both turned to the doorway when they heard footsteps. The spacesuit entered the room and raised the visor.

 

"Who are you? I don't understand, so just tell me who you are," Amy demanded.

 

The poor girl was trapped inside the suit and called to them, "Please help me. Help me. Please!"

 

"You'd better believe it," James growled and used his sonic to deactivate whatever mechanisms were controlling it, then ripped the front open with his bare hands. Pulling her free, she wrapped her arms around his neck.

 

Amy screamed behind him, but he heard Canton running towards them and calling Amy's name, so he decided to make little River his priority and slammed down the button that would lock him onto the TARDIS. They materialized inside and he held her as she wept, rubbing soothing circles on her back and letting her know that she was safe now.

 

\--'-{@ @}-'--

 

The Doctor, Rose, River and Rory flew the President back to the White House in the TARDIS. They couldn't be sure if he was being influenced, since Amy had said that she saw one of them here the first time they visited on the voice recording.

 

"You have to tape everything that happens in this office. Every word, or you won't know if you're under the influence," the Doctor instructed.

 

"Doctor, you have to give me more than this. What were you doing to Apollo 11?" he insisted.

 

"Thing. A clever thing. Now, no more questions. You have to trust me and nobody else," the Doctor replied evasively.

 

"Doctor, it's Canton. Quick, he needs us," Rose shouted from the time ship.

 

He ran inside and they piloted the ship to the orphanage that James had called from earlier. There was a commotion upstairs and they ran to find Canton locked outside of a room.

 

"Amy! Amy, can you hear me? Amy, I'm going to try to blow the lock. I need you to stand back," he shouted through the door.

 

“No! Wait!” Rose shouted and they ran even faster.

 

"Okay, gun down. I've got it," the Doctor called as he skidded to a halt next to the FBI agent.

 

"Amy, we're here. Are you okay?" Rory asked as they entered the room.

 

There didn't appear to be anyone inside, but there was a ripped open spacesuit on the floor by the doorway. Amy's voice suddenly sounded from nowhere, "I can't see."

 

"Where is she, Doctor?" Rory questioned as they searched the tiny room.

 

River crouched down to scan the spacesuit. “It's empty,” she told them.

 

“Where's Jamie?” Rose asked in a panic.

 

“He was with Amy,” Canton replied.

 

“ _Jamie? Where are you?”_ Rose thought to him worriedly.

 

“ _I'm fine. I had an emergency to take care of. I'll be back with you as soon as I can,”_ he replied and locked himself down so that they couldn't contact him for the time being.

 

“It's dark. So dark. I don't know where I am. Please, can anybody hear me?” Amy's voice sounded again. There was a small, flashing light on the floor and Rory reached to pick it up carefully.

 

“They took this out of her. How did they do that, Doctor? Why can I still hear her?” Rory questioned frantically.

 

“Is it a recording?” River wondered.

 

“Er, it defaults to live,” the Doctor answered uncomfortably. 

 

“So, this is current? Wherever she is right now, this is what she's saying, yeah?” Rose asked and her husband nodded.

 

“Amy, can you hear me? We're coming for you. Wherever you are, we're coming, I swear,” Rory spoke into the little flashing light cradled in his hands.

 

“She can't hear you. I'm so sorry. It's one way,” the Doctor explained.

 

“She can always hear me, Doctor. Always. Wherever she is, and she always knows that I am coming for her. Do you understand me? Always,” Rory argued.

 

“Rory? Jamie? Doctor? Are you out there? Can you hear me? Oh, God. Please, please, just get me out of this,” Amy's voice pleaded.

 

“We're coming, I swear,” Rory promised his absent wife.

 

“Hello? Is somebody there? I think someone has been shot. I think we should help. We c... I can't re... I can't remember,” Dr. Renfrew called from the hallway.

 

All of them made their way down to Renfrew's office. Leaning against the wall was one of the aliens that had been causing them no end of trouble. The Doctor nodded to his wife and Rose started up another voice memo.

  
“ Okay. Who and what are you?” the Doctor demanded.

  
“Silence, Doctor. We are the Silence,” the creature hissed in a rasping, echoed voice. “And Silence will fall.”

 

"Time to put this plan into action," the Doctor announced and had the others help him carry the being into the TARDIS.

 

They piloted the TARDIS to Torchwood. It was the best place to get help with alien physiology and they trusted the people there more than anyone on Earth. 

 

\--'-{@ @}-'--

 

James immediately did what River had instructed him to do and carried the little girl to the Vortex room. "What's your name, sweetheart?" he asked her, knowing that River was probably a name that she used to hide herself from those monsters.

 

"Melody," she told him weakly.

 

"That's a beautiful name. My name is James and I'm going to help you. First, I'm taking you somewhere very special. Does it hurt, love? What they did to you?" he asked gently as he put her on her feet by the doors to the portal.

 

Melody nodded as she looked tearfully into her saviour's eyes.

 

"Alright. I'm going to tell you a secret, ok? Through these doors is a very special place. We can look right into time itself. And you are a very special girl, because if you take a look at it, you'll get a super power that will protect you. It will help you to heal from what they did to you and it will help you to hide from them and stay safe until I can come back," he explained.

 

"Can't I hide with you? You are really strong, I couldn't rip the suit open, I tried," she pleaded.

 

"Oh, I wish you could stay with me, love, but those monsters are after my family and you. If you stay with me right now, they'll find you. So, once you get your special powers to hide, I'm taking you somewhere secret. I promise that I'm coming back for you and I'll take you anywhere in the universe that you want to go," James told her sadly and ran his fingers through her hair, knowing that she was going to change very soon.

 

He opened the doors and urged her inside. It was only a moment later that she ran back to him and collapsed at his feet. She was breathing heavily and her single heart was racing. James knelt beside her wanting to offer comfort, but knowing that he couldn't touch her while she regenerated.

 

"It'll be alright, Melody, I promise. Just let it happen," he told her soothingly.

 

Melody looked at him with wide eyes and nodded before her face scrunched in pain and golden light burst from her skin. She changed before his eyes into a precious, dark skinned little girl. James recognized her immediately as the young woman he had met at Amy's reception. He'd had his suspicions about it even then, but now, all the pieces clicked into place.

 

They were in Cardiff. He could feel it when the TARDIS moved to Torchwood and after checking carefully to be sure he wouldn't run into anyone, James carried his unconscious future bride out of the TARDIS. He quickly set the coordinates for Leadworth, when Amy was a child and used his impeccable skills to sort all of the paperwork that would put little Melody into the foster care system. Before leaving her with the authorities, he knelt down to say goodbye to the now wide awake little girl.

 

"You have to be very careful what you say to everyone, understand?" he told her and she nodded. "I won't know you at the wedding, but when you see me after that, I'm taking you away with me, alright?"

 

She smiled at him and wrapped her arms around his neck in a tight hug. He knew he couldn't share any of this knowledge with his family until they discovered it all on their own, just as he had. He could feel it in the timelines. With a sigh, James transported back to the Torchwood Hub to see how he could help.


	5. Day of the Moon: Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the delay, but here's the last bit of Day of the Moon. I hope you like the changes that I made :D

Chapter 5 - Day of the Moon: part 2

 

 

After leaving Rose and Canton at Torchwood with instructions, the Doctor, River, and Rory returned to the orphanage to examine the clues left behind there. The first matter was that of the spacesuit.

 

"It's an exoskeleton. Basically, life support. There's about twenty different kinds of alien tech in here," River explained from her readings as the Doctor considered everything.

 

"Who was she? Why put her in here?" the Doctor wondered.

 

"You put this on, you don't even need to eat. The suit processes sunlight directly. It's got built in weaponry, and a communications system that can hack into anything," River told him.

 

"Including the telephone network?" he asked.

 

"Easily."

 

"But why phone the President?" he thought curiously.

 

"It defaults to the highest authority it can find. The little girl gets frightened, the most powerful man on Earth gets a phone call. Night terrors with a hotline to the White House," River explained, wishing her hotline had reached someone else instead.

 

The Doctor was still trying to work through all of the information he had. There was a little girl, who had been abducted by aliens and forced into some kind of mechanical suit. They were in the middle of some kind of circular paradox, but no one could tell him what it was about. Jamie had disappeared, only saying that he had some kind of emergency to take care of. Amy had been kidnapped and they needed to find her. And somehow, all of this started for him with a blue envelope.

 

He licked the envelope in a manner much like his previous incarnation, hoping to discover some trace elements that might give him a hint. River shook her head at him.

 

"You won't learn anything from that envelope, you know," she told him.

 

"Purchased on earth. Perfectly ordinary stationery. TARDIS blue. Summoned by a stranger who won't even show his face. That's a first, for me. How about you?" he challenged.

 

"Our lives are back to front. Your future's my past. Your firsts are my lasts," River replied.

 

"That's not really what I asked," he grumbled.

 

"Ask something else, then," she insisted.

 

"What are the Silence doing, raising a child?" the Doctor wondered.

 

"Keeping her safe, even giving her independence," River suggested, gesturing to the suit.

 

"The only way to save Amy is to work out what the Silence are doing," the Doctor announced, looking towards the despondent Rory, still staring at the blinking light in his hands.

 

"I know," he replied.

 

"And every single thing we learn about them brings us a step closer," he assured Rory.

 

"Yeah, Doctor, I get it. I know," Rory sighed frustratedly.

 

"Of course, it's possible she's not just any little girl," the Doctor suggested.

 

"Well, I'd say she's human, going by the life support software," River told him.

 

"But?" the Doctor prompted.

 

"Doctor, there's blood here! On the edge where it's torn," she said suddenly.

 

The Doctor scanned the area she had indicated with his sonic. "It's Jamie's. Did he get her out of there?" he wondered.

 

"Can't you ask him?" she questioned.

 

"He seems to be in a different time zone at the moment and he had locked himself down after telling us he left for some kind of emergency. Why wouldn't he tell us if he had rescued the little girl?" he wondered.

 

"Why does it look like a NASA spacesuit?" Rory asked, trying to bring their attention back to the aliens since the Doctor said that the more they knew about them, the closer they would be to finding Amy.

 

"Because that's what the Silence do. Think about it. They don't make anything themselves. They don't have to. They get other life forms to do it for them," he explained.

 

"So they're parasites, then?" River guessed.

 

"Super-parasites, standing in the shadows of human history since the very beginning. We know they can influence human behaviour any way they want. If they've been doing that on a global scale for thousands of years..." the Doctor explained.

 

"Then what?" Rory asked.

 

"Then why did the human race suddenly decide to go to the Moon? Because the Silence needed a spacesuit," the Doctor said in realization.

 

\--'-{@ @}-'--

 

Rose and Canton stood nearby as Jack took care of the bullet wound for the time being. They wanted to question it and the Doctor had given them an important task as well.

 

"So you've been tracking these things for months? Must be driving you mad," Jack said to Rose. Everyone in the room was keeping their eyes on the creature. They had even set up a bunch of mirrors so that it would still be in their sight if they turned around.

 

"Toughest part was figuring out how to document it for ourselves so we wouldn't forget what we'd found out," Rose replied.

 

James walked into the room then. "Oh! You caught one?" he gasped.

 

"Where did you go? Amy's been taken!" Rose exclaimed as she ran to give her son a hug. She started suddenly when she opened her eyes and saw the alien there. "How did that get here?"

 

"Aw, Rosie. It's a good thing one of us still remembers the Doctor's plan," Jack teased as he finished stitching up the creature.

 

"Did I look away and forget?" she asked.

 

"Yup, but the video camera is all ready to go," Jack announced triumphantly.

 

"That's a camera?" Canton asked incredulously as he took in the tiny device.

 

"Yeah," Rose responded, keeping one hand clutched in her son's as she stared at the alien, willing herself not to look away again.

 

"You tend to my wounds. You are foolish," the creature that had identified itself as the Silence hissed at them.

 

"Is that so? Well, what would you do if our roles were reversed?" Jack questioned.

 

"We have ruled your lives since your lives began. You should kill us all on sight, but you will never remember we were even here. You will evolve," it replied.

 

"Oh! Perfect!" Rose shouted and pumped her fist in the air. "Now, who is the little girl? What do you need her for?"

 

"Silence will fall over the Wolf and the Storm," it replied ominously.

 

James hugged his mother tighter, knowing what those names meant to his parents. It was clearly a threat, but what did that have to do with River, he wondered.

 

\--'-{@ @}-'--

 

River checked her computer again as a video file arrived. She showed it to the Doctor and they watched as the alien on the screen said, "You should kill us all on sight." 

 

The glove of the spacesuit twitched suddenly and River asked him, "This suit, it seems to be repairing itself. How's it doing that? Doctor, a unit like this, would it ever be able to move without an occupant?"

 

"Why?" he wondered distractedly, trying to remember what he had just done with the computer in his hands, thinking it was probably the video that he had been waiting for.

 

"Well, the little girl said the spaceman was coming to eat her. Maybe that's exactly what happened," River suggested.

 

They overheard Amy speaking words of love to Rory through the feed and looked sadly at him.

 

"She'll be safe for now. No point in a dead hostage," the Doctor assured him.

 

"Can't you save her?" Rory asked, drawing slightly on his wife's confidence in the Doctor's abilities.

 

"I can track that signal back. Take us right to her," he replied.

 

"Then why haven't you?" he demanded furiously.

 

"Because then what? I find her and then what do I do? This isn't an alien invasion. They live here. This is their empire. This is kicking the Romans out of Rome," he tried to explain in terms he would understand.

 

"Rome fell," he replied.

 

"I know. I was there," the Doctor sighed.

 

"So was I," Rory added, his anger fading to defeat.

 

They listened for a moment as Amy's pleas continued, then the Doctor patted him on the shoulder and they all went back to the TARDIS. The Doctor made a quick stop at the Torchwood hub to pick up the others and was happy to note that Jamie was with them. He did note a brief exchange between his son and River, but they were likely just making sure the other was alright after everything that had happened.

 

"Time to go pick up our little Amelia," the Doctor announced happily as he threw the lever that sent the TARDIS twirling to the rescue.

 

The doors opened to a dimly lit room. Amy was secured to an examination table nearby. James and Rory immediately went to release her restraints.

 

"Jamie, Rory, River, keep one Silent in eyeshot at all times. Oh, hello. Sorry, you were in the middle of something. I just had to say, though, have you seen what's on the telly? Oh, hello, Amy. Are you all right? Want to watch some television?" the Doctor asked as he placed a small telly on top of their computer console in the middle of the room. "Ah. Now, stay where you are. Because look at me, I'm confident. You want to watch that, me, when I'm confident. Oh, and these are my friends and family, Rose, Rory, my son Jamie and his girlfriend, River. She has her own gun, and unlike me, she really doesn't mind shooting people. I shouldn't allow that, but some days, you know?"

 

"We can't all talk our way out of everything, dad," James defended.

 

"You'll learn in time. Now, I know you're team players and everything, but she'll definitely kill at least the first three of you," the Doctor told them.

 

"Well, the first seven, easily," River countered.

 

"Are you just trying to show off because Jamie's here?" he asked.

 

"Oh, eight for him," she purred and shot James a wink.

 

"Right, enough of that. Let's get this done, please," Rose interrupted.

 

"Yes. Right. Sorry. As I was saying, my naughty friend here is going to kill the first three of you to attack, plus him behind, so maybe you want to draw lots or have a quiz," the Doctor rambled for a minute before finally showing his anger. "Or maybe you could just listen a minute. Because all I really want to do is accept your total surrender and then I'll let you go in peace. Yes, you've been interfering in human history for thousands of years. Yes, people have suffered and died, but what's the point in two hearts, if you can't be a bit forgiving, now and then?"

 

None of the creatures responded other than to walk towards them slowly. They made a clicking type of growling noise and after a moment, the Doctor had had enough. "Ooo, the Silence. You guys take that seriously, don't you? Okay, you got me. I'm lying. I'm not really going to let you go that easily. Nice thought, but it's not Christmas. First, you tell me about the girl. Who is she? Why is she important? What's she for?"

 

The TV behind him announced that there would be a broadcast soon of the first footage from the moon and the Doctor moved on to the next part of his plan. "Guys, sorry, but you're way out of time. Now, come on. A bit of history for you. Aren't you proud? Because you helped. Now, do you know how many people are watching this live on the telly? Half a billion. And that's nothing, because the human race will spread out among the stars. You just watch them fly. Billions and billions of them, for billions and billions of years, and every single one of them at some point in their lives, will look back at this man, taking that very first step, and they will never, ever forget it."

 

Rose took out her mobile and prepared the vital transfer of the video file.

 

"Okay, engine stop. ATA on the descent. Modes control both auto. Descent engine command off," came from the telly.

 

"Oh. But don't forget this bit. Ready?" he asked as he gave his wife the signal to send it.

 

The voice of Neil Armstrong came over the telly saying, "That's one small step for a man..."

 

It was interrupted briefly by their video of the alien saying, "You should kill us all on sight." It looped a few times before going back to the proper video feed.

 

"You've given the order for your own execution, and the whole planet just heard you," the Doctor informed them. He regretted the violence this would involve, but he could see no other way of ensuring that they would leave the planet.

 

"One giant leap for mankind," the astronaut announced in his most famous quote of all time.

 

"And one whacking great kick up the backside for the Silence. You just raised an army against yourself and now, for a thousand generations, you're going to be ordering them to destroy you every day. How fast can you run? Because today's the day the human race throw you off their planet. They won't even know they're doing it. I think, quite possibly, the word you're looking for right now is, 'oops.' Run!" he said and when he noticed no one was moving, he clarified, "Guys, I mean us. Run."

 

The Silence glared at them and everyone could feel a charge building in the room. Suddenly, sparks began to fly around the Silence and they lifted their hands threateningly.

 

"Run! Into the TARDIS, quickly," River shouted and began to shoot the creatures around them.

 

"Don't let them build to full power," the Doctor warned as he ushered everyone back into the ship.

 

"We know, dad," James called back as he stood next to River, his sonic held out threateningly.

 

"There's a reason why I'm shooting, sweetie," River told him mockingly. "James, what are you doing?"

 

"Helping?" he claimed weakly.

 

"You've got a screwdriver. Go build a cabinet," she snarked.

 

"That's really rude," he told her.

 

"We really need to get you a blaster. Your Uncle Jack would be more than happy to teach you, unless of course you'd like some private tutoring from me," she flirted as she spun around, hitting one of the hostile aliens with every shot.

 

"Dad would kill me and you know it," James replied and looked over her shoulder pointedly. Without even turning to look, she turned her gun behind her and killed the last of the threats.

 

\--'-{@ @}-'--

 

The little family piloted the TARDIS back to the White House so that they could assure the President that the immediate threat had been taken care of. James insisted that River stay next to him so that he could show her what he was doing, excitedly teaching her how to fly the time machine so that when they had their own, ... It would be wonderful.

 

"So we're safe again," Nixon sighed in relief.

 

"Safe? No, of course you're not safe. There's about a billion other things out there just waiting to burn your whole world. But, if you want to pretend you're safe, just so you can sleep at night? Okay, you're safe. But you're not really. Canton. Until the next one, eh?" the Doctor rambled.

 

"Looking forward to it," he replied with a nod.

 

"Canton just wants to get married. Hell of a reason to kick him out of the FBI," the Doctor informed the President.

 

"I'm sure something can be arranged," Nixon assured him.

 

"I'm counting on you," he responded.

 

Before the Doctor could close the door of the TARDIS, the President spoke up, "Er, Doctor. Canton here tells me you're, you're from the future. It hardly seems possible, but I was wondering..."

 

"I should warn you I don't answer a lot of questions," he informed him.

 

"But I'm a President at the beginning of his time. Dare I ask. Will I be remembered?" Nixon wondered.

 

"Oh, Dicky. Tricky Dicky. They're never going to forget you. Say hi to David Frost for me," the Doctor replied, shaking his head and he shut the door behind him.

 

"Could you drop me off, please," River asked politely.

 

"Stormcage?" James asked and at her nod, prompted her to enter the date coordinates where he indicated.

 

"You could come with us," the Doctor offered, knowing how much his son wanted to be with her.

 

"It isn't time yet, dad," James told him.

 

When they arrived at the prison, they parked just outside of her cell and James walked her to the door. He leaned against the frame and she turned to face him.

 

"You've got it all figured out now?" she asked.

 

"Mostly. I think. Amy is your mother, somehow. You grew up with her, as one of her best friends, since you were in the wedding party. And I'm betting that it was you in the spacesuit on the beach. You're in here because the universe needs to believe that you killed my dad," James explained as much as he had worked out.

 

"You've got most of it, yes. You can't tell them, not until Berlin, that's when it all becomes quite clear," she insisted.

 

"One day, you and I will be on the same timeline, my love. I promise you that. After the Byzantium and you're out of here, no more jumping around for us, yeah?" he assured her.

 

"I hope you're right, James," she sighed and they kissed goodbye for the time being.

 


	6. Heart of the Wolf: Part One

**Chapter 6 - Heart of the Wolf**

 

After the events in America, James went back to Torchwood. He hadn't stayed very long before the blue envelope had arrived and he wanted a longer visit. At least that's what he told his parents. Really, he was finding it difficult to hide all of the things he knew about River's past and the fact that Amy was her mother. It would be easier for all of them if he just wasn't there for a while.

 

So, the Doctor and Rose were travelling with Amy and Rory for the time being. Though they did run into a past James and River while answering a distress call. They had found themselves on a pirate ship that had been trapped by an unknown collision with an alien spacecraft. James and River had helped them figure out the problem and left again, which was good because James hadn't done the Pandorica yet.

 

Everything was going well. They were floating in space for the moment, thinking about where to go next, when there was a knock on the TARDIS doors. The Doctor and Rose looked at each other in confusion.

 

"How?" Rose gasped.

 

There was another knock, as if the person knocking was getting impatient waiting for them to answer.

 

"What was that?" Amy asked.

 

"The door. It knocked," the Doctor stated, still unsure of exactly how that was possible.

 

"Right. We are in deep space," Rory pointed out.

 

"Very, very deep," the Doctor confirmed.

 

"A spaceship? Nothing on the sensors," Rose told them, checking the monitor.

 

The knocking played out the pattern for shave and a haircut. The Doctor looked back at the others as he approached the doors. "And somebody's knocking." He opened the doors to find a floating, white, glowing cube. "Oh, come here. Come here, you scrumptious little beauty!" he exclaimed excitedly.

 

The little box flew into the room in a wide arch before heading straight for the Doctor and knocking him in the chest. He fell down on the floor and wrestled with it for a moment as he tried to stop it from making another circuit of the room.

 

"A box?" Rory questioned.

 

"What is it, love?" Rose asked him from the platform above.

 

"I've got mail," he cried happily as he sat up and stared at the little cube in his hands. "Time Lord emergency messaging system. In an emergency, we'd wrap up thoughts in psychic containers and send them through time and space. Anyway, there's a living Time Lord still out there, and it's one of the good ones," he explained, popping up from the floor and running towards the console.

 

"How could there be more Time Lords? Another one hid from the war?" Rose wondered.

 

"You said there weren't any other Time Lords left," Rory agreed.

 

"There are no Time Lords left anywhere in the universe, well, other than Jamie. But the universe isn't where we're going. See that snake?" he told them, pointing to the symbol on the cube showing a knotwork snake. "The mark of the Corsair. Fantastic bloke. He had that snake as a tattoo in every regeneration. Didn't feel like himself unless he had the tattoo. Or herself, a couple of times. Oooh, she was a bad girl!"

 

"You mean, you might regenerate into a woman?!" Rose shouted as she tried to help him pilot the shaking time ship. There was an explosion and the lights flickered around them.

 

"It is a slight possibility," he admitted, smacking one of the controls harshly.

 

"Oh, what is happening?" Rory questioned, holding Amy tightly as they clung to the railing.

 

"We're leaving the universe!" the Doctor shouted.

 

"How can you leave the universe?" Amy called back to him.

 

"And we had better be able to get back again!" Rose yelled at him.

 

"With enormous difficulty. Right now I'm burning up TARDIS rooms to give us some welly. Goodbye, swimming pool. Goodbye, scullery. Sayonara, squash court seven," he listed, hitting various controls as he circled the console and reached around his wife.

 

There were a few more explosions and crashes before they landed with a harsh bump and everyone fell to the floor. Rose groaned and the Doctor helped her to sit up again.

 

"Ok, ok. Where are we?" Amy questioned, pulling herself up.

 

"Outside the universe, where we've never, ever been," the Doctor explained.

 

The lights went out in the TARDIS and Rose clutched her head, leaning hard on her husband.

 

"Is that meant to be happening?" Rory asked.

 

"The power, it's draining. Everything's draining. But it can't. That's, that's impossible," the Doctor cried and Rose passed out in his arms. "Rose! Rose, love, what is it?!" he pleaded, shaking her to get her attention. She hung limply in his arms.

 

"What is that?" Rory interrupted as the last of the light from the time rotor seemed to disappear.

 

"It's as if the Matrix, the soul of the TARDIS, has just vanished. Where would it go?" the Doctor told them, watching the light fade and clutching his wife tightly to his chest. "Let's get her outside," he decided and carried Rose through the doors.

 

The Doctor laid Rose out on the ground and scanned her with his sonic. "She's breathing, but her heart beat has dropped, it's like she's in some sort of stasis," he told them worriedly. Rory was kneeling on the other side of her, checking her vitals as best he could, even though the Doctor's sonic could probably find out more than he could.

 

"Maybe if we find out what's wrong with the TARDIS it might help? Is this the same as what happened when we were dreaming?" Rory suggested.

 

"You're right! But how would our subconscious have known that something like this would happen if something happened to the TARDIS?" he wondered.

 

"Figuring out the problem at hand then, what kind of trouble's your friend in?" Amy asked as she explored the junk that was in piles around them.

 

"He was in a bind. A bit of a pickle. Sort of distressed," the Doctor told them distractedly.

 

"Ah, you can't just say you don't know," Amy replied.

 

"But what is this place? The scrap yard at the end of the universe?" Rory wondered.

 

"Not end of, outside of," he responded, looking around but hesitant to leave Rose's side.

 

"How we can we be outside the universe? The universe is everything," Rory argued.

 

"Imagine a great big soap bubble with one of those tiny little bubbles on the outside," the Doctor told him.

 

"Okay," Rory replied hesitantly.

 

"Well, it's nothing like that," he added. He turned to check on the TARDIS again, wondering if the state of her was in fact affecting his wife. "Completely drained. Look at her."

 

"Wait. So we're in a tiny bubble universe, sticking to the side of the bigger bubble universe?" Amy questioned, trying to follow their conversation while she explored.

 

"Yeah. No. But if it helps, yes. This place is full of rift energy. She'll probably refuel just by being here and maybe Rose will come around on her own? Now, this place. What do we think, eh? Gravity's almost Earth normal, air's breathable, but it smells like..." he rambled, trying to distract himself from the terrifying thoughts of losing Rose over this little expedition.

 

"Armpits," Amy decided.

 

"Armpits," the Doctor agreed.

 

"What about all this stuff? Where did this come from?" Rory wondered.

 

"Well, there's a rift. Now and then stuff gets sucked through it. Not a bubble, a plughole. The universe has a plughole and we've just fallen down it," he told them as the new analogy popped into his head.

 

Just then, a tall woman in a blue, tattered dress came running towards them, shouting, "Wolf! Where are you, my Wolf?"

 

She immediately fell to the ground next to Rose and placed her hands against the sides of Rose's face. The blonde's eyes opened wide with a gasp and the strange woman pulled her up to sitting. "There we are, oh my Wolf! I thought I'd lost you!" she cried and pulled Rose into an awkward hug.

 

"Who are you? What did you do?" the Doctor shouted and grabbed his wife's hands to pull her up against him protectively.

 

"Thief! You're my thief!" she exclaimed happily.

 

"She's dangerous. Guard yourselves," another woman yelled as she approached them. She seemed to be chasing the first one.

 

"Look at the two of you. Goodbye. No, not goodbye, what's the other one?" she said confusingly and kissed the Doctor full on the lips.

 

"Oi! Hands off!" Rose protested.

 

"Alright," she agreed, then kissed Rose instead.

 

"Watch out. Careful. Keep back from her. Welcome, strangers. Lovely. Sorry about the mad person," announced a man who stood next to the second woman. Both of them were filthy and looked injured or something.

 

"Why am I a thief? What have I stolen? And what do you mean _your_ Wolf?" the Doctor asked the woman when she stopped kissing his wife. She wasn't answering who she was, so he might as well address what she had said to them.

 

"Me. You're going to steal me. No, you have stolen me. You are stealing me. Oh tenses are difficult, aren't they? And she is my Wolf, just as I am her heart," the woman explained, speaking faster than it seemed her thoughts would allow.

 

"You're what?" Rose asked her.

 

"Oh. Oh, we are sorry, my dove. She's off her head. They call me Auntie," the other woman told them.

 

"And I'm Uncle. I'm everybody's Uncle. Just keep back from this one. She bites!" the man growled.

 

"Do I? Excellent," the younger woman announced and moved to bite the Doctor on the neck.

 

"Ow! Ow!" he protested and Rose pulled the woman off of him, checking to make sure there was no blood. She was a little disconcerted by the statement that this woman was her heart.

 

"Biting's excellent. It's like kissing, only there's a winner," she announced and turned toward Rose with a predatory smile.

 

"No! No you don't!" The Doctor shouted and positioned himself between Rose and the strange woman.

 

"So sorry. She's doolally," Uncle told them.

 

"No, I'm not doolally. I'mmm, I'mmmm... It's on the tip of my tongue," she said thoughtfully. "I've just had a new idea about kissing. Come here, you!" she added, lunging back towards the Doctor again.

 

"No, Idris, no," Auntie ordered her as Rose and the Doctor backed away.

 

"Oh, but now you're angry. No, you're not. You will be angry. The little boxes will make you angry," she pouted at the pair.

 

"Sorry? The little what? Boxes?" the Doctor questioned.

 

"What, like the white one from before?" Rose wondered.

 

The woman Auntie had called Idris stared at the Doctor for a moment before announcing, "Oh, ho, no. Your chin is hilarious!" The Doctor pouted at that and hugged his wife tightly. She then turned to Rory and stated, "It means the smell of dust after rain."

 

"What does?" he wondered.

 

"Petrichor," she replied.

 

"But I didn't ask," he responded.

 

"Not yet. But you will," she informed him.

 

"No, no, Idris. I think you should have a rest," Auntie told her as if speaking to a child.

 

"Rest. No, I can't do that, it hurts my Wolf. She needs me," Idris announced and pulled

Rose and the Doctor into a hug since they seemed reluctant to let go of each other.

 

"What did you mean that you're my heart? Who are you?" Rose asked her.

 

"You looked into me to save our Thief, and I became your heart," Idris replied, making Rose gasp in realization.

 

"Nephew, take Idris somewhere she can not bite people," Uncle told the Ood that suddenly appeared beside him.

 

"Oh, hello!" the Doctor greeted the Ood happily.

 

"Doctor, what is that?" Amy asked worriedly as she looked at the new alien.

 

"Oh, no, it's all right. It's an Ood. Oods are good, aren't they, Rose? Love an Ood. Hello, Ood. Can't you talk? Oh, I see. It's damaged. May I? It might just be on the wrong frequency," he rambled and tried to repair the Ood's translator ball.

 

"Nephew was broken when he came here. Why, he was half dead. House repaired him. House repaired all of us," Auntie explained.

 

The Doctor passed his sonic over the white ball several times and the air was suddenly filled with overlapping transmissions. The clearest voice pleaded, "If you are receiving this message, please help me. Send a signal to the High Council of the Time Lords on Gallifrey. Tell them that I am still alive. I don't know where I am. I'm on some rock-like planet."

 

The voices stopped abruptly and the Doctor's eyes filled with tears. Rose rushed to his side and entwined their fingers together, their bracelets clicking together as their bond intensified and she shared his pain supportively.

 

"What was that? Was that him?" Rory asked confusedly.

 

"No, no. It's picking up something else. But that's, that's not possible. That's, that's... Who else is here? Tell me. Show me. Show me," the Doctor insisted angrily.

 

The older couple flinched at his tone and Auntie replied, "Just what you see. Just the four of us, and the House. Nephew, will you take Idris somewhere safe where she can't hurt nobody?"

 

"She isn't going anywhere!" Rose shouted and grasped her hand tightly. Rose knew who this was now and she wasn't going to let her out of her sight. Nephew backed off for the moment, but seemed conflicted.

 

"The House? What's the House?" the Doctor questioned, unsure why Rose was suddenly so attached to the strange bitey lady.

 

"House is all around you, my sweets. You are standing on him. This is the House. This world. Would you like to meet him?" Auntie replied with an awe-filled smile.

 

"Meet him?" Rory asked.

 

"We'd love to," the Doctor interrupted forcefully before Rory or Amy could give away his usual intentions in a situation like this. He knew they could read his tension and building anger, but these strangers didn't seem to realize what they were up against.

 

"This way. Come, please. Come," Uncle told them as they led the group to another area of the wasteland.

 

"What's wrong? What were those voices?" Amy questioned surreptitiously.

 

"Time Lords. It's not just the Corsair. Somewhere close by there are lots and lots of Time Lords," the Doctor responded.

 

"Are you sure, love? Can you actually feel them? Something feels really wrong about all this," Rose responded nervously, still clutching Idris' hand tightly.

 

"I'm sure, very sure. I can't feel them, but it has to be. They're shielding them from me somehow and I'm going to find them. And who are you? You still haven't answered," he insisted.

 

"I'm, I'm... Big word, sad word. Why is that word so sad? No. Will be sad. Will be sad," she replied frustratedly, as if she had never answered the question of who she was before in her life.

 

"Come. Come, come. You can see the House and he can look at you, and he..." Uncle interrupted and tugged them along to a place where an eerie green light was shining up through a grating from the centre of the planet beneath them.

 

"I see. This asteroid is sentient," the Doctor realized. It wasn't the first sentient planet he had encountered, but this one didn't seem particularly benign.

 

"We walk on his back, breathe his air, eat his food," Auntie explained.

 

"Smell his armpits," Amy mumbled, still disgusted by the smell of the place.

 

Auntie and Uncle both froze and stared straight ahead then, as if taken over by a puppeteer. A loud, deep voice sounded from them, "And do my will. You are most welcome, travellers."

 

"I don't like this," Rose whispered to the woman beside her.

 

"Quite right, my Wolf," she replied.

 

"Doctor, that voice. That's the asteroid talking?" Amy questioned.

 

"Yes. So you're like a sea urchin. Hard outer surface, that's the planet we're walking on. Big, squashy, oogly thing inside, that's you," he confirmed.

 

"That is correct, Time Lord," the House replied.

 

"Ah. So you've met Time Lords before?" the Doctor asked, knowing that he must have because they were here somewhere.

 

"Many travellers have come through the rift, like Auntie and Uncle and Nephew. I repair them when they break," the House explained.

 

"So there are Time Lords here, then?" he pressed.

 

"Not any more, but there have been many TARDISes on my back in days gone by."

 

"Well, there won't be any more after us. Last Time Lord. Last TARDIS," the Doctor responded while giving the others a look to insist that they not mention Jamie or the baby TARDIS.

 

"A pity. Your people were so kind. Be here in safety, Doctor. Rest, feed, if you will," the House told them.

 

"We're not actually going to stay here, are we?" Rory asked quietly.

 

"Well, it seems like a friendly planet. Literally. Mind if we poke around a bit?" the Doctor announced loudly, trying to make them believe that he was happily accepting their hospitality.

 

"You can look all you want. Go. Look," Auntie said with a smile and she took Amy into her arms. "House loves you."

 

"Come on then, gang. We're just going to, er, see the sights," the Doctor told the planet's inhabitants as he led the others away from them to talk.

 

"Are there a see zero that ito emo we. Ah! What was that? Do fish have fingers? Like a nine year old trying to rebuild a motorbike. What am I saying? Why am I saying that?" Idris babbled by Rose's side.

 

"Are you alright, Old Girl?" Rose asked her worriedly.

 

She turned to look at Rose with a fond smile. "I love it when the two of you call me that."

 

The Doctor wasn't paying any attention to the conversation between Rose and the strange woman that was with them.

 

"So, as soon as the TARDIS is refuelled, we go, yeah?" Rory questioned the Doctor urgently.

 

"No. There are Time Lords here. I heard them and they need me," the Doctor insisted.

 

Rose and Idris looked at him sadly, sure that this was all a trick, but his mind refused to accept that logic for the time being.

 

"You told me about your people, and you told me what you did," Amy argued.

 

"Yes, yes, but if they're like the Corsair, they're good ones and I can save them," he insisted.

 

"And then tell them you destroyed the others?" Amy pointed out.

 

"I can explain. Tell them why I had to," he told her sadly.

 

"You want to be forgiven," Amy realized.

 

"Don't we all?" he pleaded, near tears again.

 

"Doctor, please listen to me. This isn't what it seems to be, I know it. You have me and Jamie, friends and family with you. I know it hurts and you want the forgiveness of your own people for what had to happen, but we're here for you, love," Rise insisted, wanting to get the TARDIS restored and get as far away from here as possible.

 

He hugged her and sent her waves of gratitude over their bond, but he was still determined to find the source of those voices.

 

"What do you need from me?" Amy asked when he seemed more stable.

 

"My screwdriver. I left it in the TARDIS. It's in my jacket," the Doctor replied.

 

"You're wearing your jacket," Rory argued.

 

"My other jacket," he lied.

 

"You have two of those?" Rory cringed. "And don't you have a sonic, Rose?"

 

"Doesn't do nearly as much as his does," she answered, deciding that he must be trying to send them to safety in the ship.

 

“Okay, I'll get it. Rose, you have your mobile, yeah?” Amy asked as she and Rory headed back towards the blue box.

 

“Of course, Amy,” she replied.

 

The Doctor searched the area for some sign of where the other Time Lords might be. It was only a few moments later that Rose's phone rang and she tossed it over to the Doctor.

 

“Hey, we're here. Screwdriver's in your jacket, yeah?” Amy asked over the phone.

 

“Yeah, it's around somewhere. Have a good look,” he answered as he used the sonic that he just removed from his pocket to remotely lock the TARDIS doors.  
  


He shut the mobile and tossed it back to his wife.

 

“Come on. Where are you? Now, where are you all? Where are you?” he mumbled to himself as he continued to search the area. He found a small cupboard type space. “Well, they can't all be in here.”

 

The Doctor looked around curiously though as he thought he could hear the voices again. Opening the small door, he found a dozen or so of the white cubes, all broadcasting the voices of various Time Lords.  
  


“Oh, Doctor,” Rose gasped as she felt his anguish.

 

Auntie and Uncle approached them and Idris placed herself in front of Rose protectively, as if the older couple might be a threat to her.

  
“Just admiring your Time Lord distress signal collection. Nice job. Brilliant job. Really thought I had some friends here, but this is what the Ood translator picked up. Cries for help from the long dead. How many Time Lords have you lured here the way you lured me, and what happened to them all?” he demanded angrily.

  
“House, House is kind and he is wise,” Auntie insisted.

  
“House repairs you when you break. Yes, I know. But how does he mend you? You've got the eyes of a twenty year old,” the Doctor said to Uncle as he looked him over more carefully.

  
“Thank you,” he replied.

  
“No. Oh, no, I mean it literally. Your eyes are thirty years younger than the rest of you. Your ears don't match, your right arm is two inches longer than your left, and how's your dancing? Because you've got two left feet,” the Doctor analyzed disgustedly.

 

“Oh my god, you're kidding,” Rose cringed.

 

“Patchwork people. You've been repaired and patched up so often, I doubt there's anything left of what used to be you. I had an umbrella like you once,” he commented and pulled Auntie's arm towards him to look at it. It was much bigger than what she should have had and the forearm bared the familiar snake tattoo.  
  


“Oh, now, it's been a great arm for me, this,” she said proudly.

  
“Corsair,” the Doctor croaked and Rose rushed past Idris to his side. She took his hand supportively.

 

“How could you? You just hack these people up and use their parts on yourselves?” Rose growled at them.

  
“He was a strapping big bloke, wasn't he, Uncle?” Auntie told them, not at all worried about the morality of the situation.

  
“Big fellow,” Uncle agreed.

  
“I got the arm and then Uncle got the spine and the kidneys.”   
  
“You gave me hope, and then you took it away. That's enough to make anyone dangerous. God knows what it will do to me. Basically, run!” the Doctor shouted at them.

 

As they were leaving, Uncle turned back to sneer at him, “Poor old Time Lord. Too late. House is too clever.”  
  


Rose's mobile rang and she picked up to speak to Amy herself.

 

“No sonic screwdriver. Also the doors seemed to have locked behind us. Rory thinks there's a perfectly innocent explanation, but I think he lied to us,” Amy grumbled.

 

“Look, Amy, he just wanted you two safe. This place is right creepy, I know you guys feel it too. We're coming back your way now, just stay put, yeah?” she told them.

 

“We don't have much choice,” Amy complained but agreed and hung up the phone.

 

“How did you know about the boxes? You said they'd make me angry. How did you know?” the Doctor addressed Idris.

  
“Ah, my Thief. You are ready to listen now,” she replied.

  
“Who are you?” he demanded.  
  


“Do you not know me? Just because they put me in here?” she asked confusedly.

 

“What do you mean?” he wondered.

 

“Doctor, you know her. She explained it to me. I looked into her heart and she became mine,” Rose told him, sure that he would be able to see it as easily as she had.

  
“I'm the... Oh, what do you call me? We travel. I go vwoorp vwoorp,” she told him frustratedly and Rose marvelled at how the human body she was inhabiting was able to produce the TARDIS noise from its mouth.

  
“The TARDIS?” he asked disbelievingly and looked to his wife, who merely nodded with raised eyebrows.

  
“Time And Relative Dimension In Space. Yes, that's it. Names are funny. It's me. I'm the TARDIS,” she agreed happily.

  
“No, you're not. You're a bitey, mad lady. The TARDIS is up and downy stuff in a big blue box,” he denied waving his arms around for emphasis.

 

“Doctor, listen to her. Please, love, I can feel it,” Rose pleaded with him.

  
“Yes, that's me. We are connected now, my Wolf. We will always be connected. I am your heart. You looked into me, a Type Forty TARDIS. Together we saved my Thief and through me, you can stay with him through all of his lives, just like you asked,” she told Rose as she caressed her face.

 

“But that's impossible,” he denied.

 

“You like that word. I don't. I was already a museum piece when you were young, and the first time you touched my console you said...” she continued, needing to prove herself to him.

  
“I said you were the most beautiful thing I had ever known,” he interrupted.

  
“And then you stole me. And I stole you,” she teased.

  
“I borrowed you,” he insisted.

  
“Borrowing implies the intention to return the thing that was taken. What makes you think I would ever give you back? Besides, our Wolf stole both of us. We have the Cub and the Water and the Little One. There's no going back now,” she rambled.

  
The Doctor guessed that the Cub and Water were Jamie and River. The Little One? He couldn't be sure about that, but was this really real? “You're the TARDIS?” he asked incredulously.

  
“Yes,” she replied

  
“My TARDIS?”

 

“Yes, Doctor,” Rose sighed impatiently.

  
“My Doctor and Wolf,” she said with a smile and looked at them both proudly. She tilted her head in thought. “Are all people like this?”

  
“Like what?” he asked.

  
“So much bigger on the inside. I'm, oh, what is that word? It's so big, so complicated. It's so sad,” she told them, still frustrated with trying to communicate this way.

  
“But why? Why pull the living soul from a TARDIS and pop it in a tiny human head? What does it want you for?” the Doctor wondered as he got back to the matter at hand.

  
“Oh, it doesn't want me,” she replied casually as she looked around.

  
“How do you know?” the Doctor questioned, wondering if it had said something to her.

  
“House eats TARDISes.”

  
“House what? What do you mean?” he gasped and grabbed Rose's hand worriedly.

  
“I don't know. It's something I heard you say,” she responded distractedly.

  
“When?” he asked, not remembering ever having said such a thing.

  
“In the future.”

  
“House eats TARDISes?” he questioned.

  
“There you go. What are fish fingers?” she wondered staring off into the distance as if she could see something that they couldn't.

  
“When do I say that?” he asked, confused as to why he would talk about those.

  
“Any second.”

  
“Of course!” he shouted. “House feeds on rift energy and TARDISes are bursting with it. And not raw, all lovely and cooked. Processed food. Mmm, fish fingers.”

  
“Do fish have fingers?” she asked.

  
“But you can't eat a TARDIS. It would destroy you. Unless, unless...” he trailed off in thought.

  
“Unless you deleted the TARDIS Matrix first,” Idris completed his thought.

  
“It deleted you? But how are you here?” Rose wondered, trying to follow their conversation.

  
“But House can't just delete a TARDIS' consciousness. That would blow a hole in the universe. So he pulls out the Matrix, sticks it in a living receptacle and then it feeds off the remaining Artron energy. Oh. You were about to say all that. I don't suppose you have to now,” she rambled as if reading his thoughts.

  
“We sent Amy and Rory in there. They'll be eaten. Amy! Amy? Rory? Get the hell out of there,” he shouted as the three of them ran back towards the blue box.

 

Rose called the couple on her mobile, “Amy! You've got to get out of there!”

 

“Rose, something's wrong,” she replied.

 

“It's the House. He's after the TARDIS. Just get out of there, both of you,” Rose explained urgently.

 

“We can't, he locked the door, remember?” Amy argued.

 

“No, but he just unlocked it,” Rose told her.

 

“He bloody well hasn't!” she shouted as they reached the doors. They could hear Amy and Rory banging on the doors from the inside as they tried to get out.   
  
The Doctor tried using his sonic on the door as all of them fought to get it opened. They could hear the cloister bell sounding inside, but nothing they tried made any difference. None of them knew how, but the blue box suddenly disappeared, taking Amy and Rory with it, and leaving the Doctor, Rose, and Idris behind on the little asteroid planet.


	7. Heart of the Wolf: Part Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, editing took a bit. Please review!!

**Chapter 7 – The Heart of the Wolf: Part 2**

 

 

The Doctor and Rose watched in horror and Idris in shock as the blue box disappeared before their eyes. Rose tried repeatedly to call them back on her mobile, but couldn't connect.

 

"Okay, right. I don't, I really don't know what to do. That's a new feeling. Well, I suppose there was one other time, but I was too busy wallowing in self pity at the loss of my wife at the time," the Doctor admitted, feeling almost as lost for the moment. He had no way of getting them back into the universe with their son, no way to save Amy and Rory, and no way that the TARDIS could continue surviving this way.

 

"It's gone," he moaned despondently.

 

"Eaten?" Idris asked.

 

"No, it left. Not eaten, hi-jacked. But why?" the Doctor wondered.

 

"It's time for us both to go, and keep together," Auntie announced as she and Uncle approached them.

 

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Go? What do you mean, go? Where are you going?" the Doctor protested.

 

"Well, we're dying, my love. It's time for Auntie and Uncle to pop off," she told him.

 

"I'm against it," Uncle mumbled.

 

"It's your fault, isn't it, sweets? Because you told House it was the last TARDIS. House can't feed on them if there's none more coming, can he?" Auntie explained.

 

"So now he's off to your universe to find more TARDISes," Uncle concluded as they both sat down.

 

"It won't," the Doctor insisted angrily.

 

"Oh, it'll think of something," Auntie told him and collapsed in a heap, like a marionette with its strings cut.

 

"Actually, I feel fine," Uncle told them before he similarly crumpled.

 

"Not dead. You can't just die!" the Doctor shouted. How was he supposed to outsmart the enemy if they all just left him there?

 

"We need to go to where I landed, Doctor, quickly," Idris announced suddenly.

 

"Why?" he questioned, frustrated with all of his options being pulled away before he could make a solid plan.

 

"Because we are there in three minutes. We need to go now. Ow!" she gasped suddenly and grabbed her side.

 

"What is it, sweetheart? What's wrong?" Rose asked as she helped her to stay on her feet.

 

"Roughly how long do these bodies last?" Idris wondered, calculating.

 

"You're dying," the Doctor realized.

 

"Yes, of course I'm dying. I don't belong in a flesh body. I could blow the casing in no time. No, stop. You're the Doctor. Focus," she responded firmly.

 

"On what? How? I'm a madman with a box, without a box. There's no telling what will happen to Rose if you die, and then what? I'm stuck down the plughole at the end of the universe in a stupid old junkyard. Oooh!"

 

"Ooo what?" Idris questioned.

 

"I think he's thought of something," Rose beamed.

 

"Darn right I have, because it's not," he answered confusingly.

 

"Not what?" Idris wondered.

 

"Because it's not a junkyard. Don't you see? It's not a junkyard," he told them.

 

"What is it then?" she asked, thinking that this verbal communication thing was really inefficient.

 

"It's a parts shop," Rose realized, thinking back on all the times he had dragged her shopping for mechanical junk.

 

The Doctor bopped her on the nose and stated, "It's a TARDIS junkyard. Come on! Oh, sorry. Do you have a name?"

 

"Seven hundred years, finally he asks," Idris responded haughtily.

 

"But what do I call you?" he wondered.

 

"I think you call me, Sexy."

 

Rose bent double laughing at that.

 

"Only when we're alone," he said to Sexy quietly.

 

"Oh no, you go right ahead!" Rose insisted through her laughter. "I am not getting between you two."

 

"Oh. Come on then, Sexy. And, I think maybe we need to find a new pet name for you, my love. I'll have to think on that," the Doctor said as he pulled both of them by the hands towards the larger piles of parts.

 

"A valley of half eaten TARDISes. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" the Doctor asked as they looked out over a huge valley filled with broken pieces of hundreds of ships.

 

"I'm thinking that all of my sisters are dead. That they were devoured, and that we are looking at their corpses," Sexy replied and Rose hugged her tightly.

 

"Ah. Sorry. No, I wasn't thinking that," he responded sadly.

 

"No. You were thinking you could build a working TARDIS console out of broken remnants of a hundred different models. And you don't care that it's impossible," Sexy explained.

 

"Oh, you know what we think of the word impossible," Rose said encouragingly.

 

"It's not impossible as long as we're alive. Rory and Amy need us. So do Jamie and that new little TARDIS you've got growing for him. So yeah, we're going to build a TARDIS," the Doctor assured them.

 

Sexy sat casually on a nearby rock as the Doctor and Rose pulled the various parts they would need together. "Bond the tube directly into the Tachyon Diverter," the TARDIS consciousness instructed.

 

"Yes, yes, I have actually rebuilt a TARDIS before, you know. I know what I'm doing," he grumbled.

 

"You're like a nine year old trying to rebuild a motorbike in his bedroom. And you never read the instructions," Sexy countered.

 

"I always read the instructions," he argued.

 

"What like the manual that you threw into a supernova?" Rose teased him.

 

"There's a sign on my front door. You have been walking past it for seven hundred years. What does it say?" Sexy asked pointedly.

 

"That's not instructions!"

 

"There's an instruction at the bottom. What does it say?" she insisted.

 

"Pull to open," he admitted.

 

"Yes. And what do you do?"

 

"I push," he answered angrily.

 

"I thought that was just for the little phone cupboard thing? You pull to access the phone, yeah?" Rose voiced her thoughts on the instruction.

 

"There! You see? Brilliant my Rose is and she agrees with me!" he crowed triumphantly.

 

"Every single time. Seven hundred years. Police Box doors open out the way," Sexy continued to grumble.

 

"I think I have earned the right to open my front doors any way I want," he argued petulantly.

 

"Your front doors? Have you any idea how childish that sounds?" Sexy chastised.

 

"You are not my mother," he responded, sounding even more childish.

 

"And you are not my child," she countered.

 

"You know, since we're talking with mouths, not really an opportunity that comes along very often, I just want to say, you know, you have never been very reliable," he told her accusingly.

 

"And you have?" Sexy replied indignantly.

 

"You didn't always take me where I wanted to go," he accused.

 

"No, but I always took you where you needed to go," she answered.

 

"You did. Rose, she does! Look at us talking. Wouldn't it be amazing if we could always talk, even when you're stuck inside the box?" he babbled happily.

 

"You know I'm not constructed that way. I exist across all space and time, and you talk and run around and bring home strays," she told him, almost sadly.

 

"Oi! Strays?" Rose protested.

 

"Not you, my Wolf. You have always belonged with us. You knew that at one point, you'll know it all again soon," she responded, then suddenly collapsed.

 

"You okay?" the Doctor questioned as they both helped to support her.

 

"One of the kidneys has already failed. It doesn't matter. We need to finish assembling the console," Sexy informed him.

 

"I'm starting to feel a bit dizzy again, love," Rose informed him.

 

"Must be your connection to her. Using a console without a proper shell. It's not going to be safe," he commented.

 

"This body has about eighteen minutes left to live. If I am not back in my proper form by then, my Wolf will be without her heart. Also, the universe we're in will reach Absolute Zero in three hours. Safe is relative," Sexy insisted.

 

"Then we need to get a move on. Eh, Old Girl?" he replied.

 

Rose and the Doctor worked quickly to get the cobbled together console finished. Sexy gave them directions periodically, much to the Doctor's dismay.

 

"How is this going to make it through the rift? How? We're almost done. Thrust diffuser? Er, retroscope. Blue thingy," he rambled absently as he attached the last few parts.

 

"Do you ever wonder why I chose you all those years ago?" Sexy asked him as she examined some of the other parts lying around the place.

 

"I chose you. You were unlocked," he argued.

 

"Of course I was. I wanted to see the universe, so I stole a Time Lord and I ran away. And you were the only one mad enough," she informed him.

 

Rose laughed. Of course between him and his ship, they would each feel that they were the one in control. It was mutual, she knew, but even the ship had an ego to match his.

 

"Right. Perfect. Look at that. What could possibly go wrong?" the Doctor announced proudly. Of course, one of the parts chose that moment to spring off onto the ground. Rose raised a speculative eyebrow at him and he responded, "That's fine. That always happens. No, hang on. Wait." He attached what looked like a red rope to keep people in line at the theatre and smiled proudly.

 

"Right. Okay, let's go. Follow that TARDIS!" he shouted as he flicked the controls to get it moving, however, nothing happened. "Oh no, come on. There's rift energy everywhere. You can do it. Okay, diverting all power to thrust. Let's be having you," he argued with the machine as Sexy examined her face in a small mirror attached to the console.

 

"Why isn't it working?" Rose shouted over the small explosions that were occurring.

 

"No, no, no, no!" he cried as he tried to keep the device from being damaged in the malfunction.

 

"What's wrong?" Sexy wondered.

 

"It can't hold the charge. It can't even start. There's no power. I've got nothing," he sighed in frustration.

 

"Oh, my beautiful idiot. You have what you've always had. You've got me," she replied as she kissed her finger and began to glow with golden energy. Rose, beside her, began to glow as well, her eyes trailing wisps of the vortex. Sexy twined her fingers with Rose's and together, they touched the time rotor, making it spring to life.

 

The Doctor shouted happily and piloted their makeshift craft to follow the beloved blue box.

 

"We've locked onto them. They'll have to lower the shields when I'm close enough to phase inside," Sexy shouted, the winds of the vortex whipping them around violently.

 

"Can you get a message to Amy? The telepathic circuits are online," the Doctor responded.

 

"Which one's Amy? The pretty one?" Sexy questioned. "Hello, Pretty," she said into the monitor where they could see Rory's face.

 

"What the hell is that?" Rory asked confusedly.

 

"Don't worry. Telepathic messaging. No, that's Rory," the Doctor told her between striking the controls roughly.

 

"You have to go to the old control room. I'm putting the route in your head. When you get there use the purple slider on the nearest panel to lower the shields," Sexy instructed.

 

"The pretty one?" the Doctor gasped when he suddenly realized what she had said. Rose laughed at his response.

 

"You'll have about twelve seconds before the room goes into phase with the invading Matrix. I'll send you the pass key when you get there. Good luck," Sexy continued.

 

"How's he going to be able to take down the shields anyway? The House is in the control room," the Doctor wondered.

 

"I directed him to one of the old control rooms," Sexy replied.

 

"Ooh, is it the coral one?" Rose asked excitedly and Sexy nodded to her.

 

"There aren't any old control rooms. They were all deleted or remodelled," he argued.

 

"I archived them, for neatness. I've got about thirty now," she corrected him.

 

"But I've only changed the desktop, what, a dozen times?" he responded, wondering how she could have things archived that he didn't know about.

 

"So far, yes," she agreed.

 

"You can't archive something that hasn't happened yet," he insisted.

 

"You can't," she told him factually, making Rose giggle.

 

"Keep going. You're doing it, you sexy thing," the Doctor shouted happily.

 

"See, you do call me that. Is it my name?" Sexy asked.

 

"You bet it's your name!" he called back to her.

 

"Should I be jealous over here?" Rose teased, her eyes still glowing with golden light.

 

"Oh, come here!" her husband responded and pulled her to stand in front of him as he continued working the controls around her and nuzzled her neck with a little growl that promised more later.

 

"They did it. Shields down," Sexy announced suddenly and the Doctor hit the controls to materialize wherever Rory and Amy had found themselves. She opened the communication to Rory again and warned him, "We're coming through. Get out of the way or you'll be atomized."

 

"Where are you coming through?" he questioned, perfectly willing to avoid being atomized.

 

"I don't know," Sexy admitted.

 

"Oh, great. Thanks," he replied with his typical sarcasm.

 

"It's not going to hold," Sexy shouted as the makeshift console began to rattle dangerously. A moment later, however, they materialized in the familiar old console room.

 

"Doctor. Rose," Amy greeted them warily.

 

"Not good. Not good at all. How do you walk around in these things?" Sexy grumbled and Rose held her around the waist, a little to short to support her easily.

 

"I've got you, sweetheart, I've got you," Rose told her consolingly.

 

"We're not quite there yet. Just hold on. Amy, this is, well, she's my TARDIS. Except she's a woman. She's a woman, and she's my TARDIS," the Doctor explained excitedly.

 

"She's the TARDIS?" Amy asked disbelievingly.

 

"And she's a woman. She's a woman and she's the TARDIS," he corrected with a bright smile.

 

"Did you wish really hard?" Amy teased him.

 

"Shut up. Not like that," he protested.

 

"Are you sure?" Rose prodded.

 

"Hello. I'm Sexy," Sexy said in greeting, not helping the Doctor's argument.

 

"Oh. Still shut up," the Doctor told them as Rose and Amy started giggling.

 

"The environment has been breached. Nephew, kill them all," came the deep voice of the House all around them.

 

"Where's Nephew?" Rory asked worriedly, apparently nephew had been a problem for them earlier.

 

"He was standing right where you materialized," Amy added.

 

"Ah. Well, he must have been redistributed," the Doctor told them vaguely.

 

"Meaning what?" Rory questioned uncomfortably.

 

"Meaning, you're breathing him," Rose clarified, being fluent in Doctor-speak.

 

"Oh, come on," Amy groaned, her disgust apparent.

 

"Another Ood I failed to save," the Doctor grumbled as he paced the room.

 

"Doctor. I did not expect you," the House announced haughtily.

 

"Well, that's me all over, isn't it? Lovely old unexpected me," he replied.

 

"The big question is, now you're here, how to dispose of you? I could play with gravity," the House told them and everyone was suddenly lying on the floor. When they were released a few seconds later, Rose and Sexy stayed there, both feeling dizzy and weak.

 

"Or I could evacuate the air from this room and watch you choke," the House suggested and for a moment, they all couldn't breathe before their tormentor returned the air.

 

"You really don't want to do that," the Doctor warned him.

 

"Why shouldn't I just kill you now?" the being questioned.

 

"Because then I won't be able to help you. Listen to your engines. Just listen to them. You don't have the thrust and you know it. Right now I'm your only hope for getting out of your little bubble through the rift, and into my universe. And mine's the one with the food in," the Doctor explained.

 

"Water, water," Sexy called out.

 

"What is it, Old Girl?" Rose asked her and Rory came to check on them both where they lay on the floor.

 

"You just have to promise not to kill us. That's all, just promise," the Doctor told the House.

 

"You can't be serious," Amy protested, knowing that this thing was not to be trusted.

 

"I'm very serious. I'm sure it's an entity of its word," the Doctor replied, giving the House a false sense of superiority in the situation.

 

"Doctor, she's burning up. She's asking for water. And what's happening to Rose?" Rory called to him.

 

"Hey. Hang in there, Old Girl. Not long now. It'll be over soon. Don't worry, love, almost there," he added grasping both of their hands supportively.

 

"I always liked it when you call me old girl," she told him, repeating what she had told Rose earlier.

 

"You want me to give my word? Easy. I promise," the House said mockingly.

 

"Fine. Okay. I trust you. Just delete, oh er, thirty percent of the TARDIS rooms, you'll free up thrust enough to make it through. Activate subroutine Sigma nine," he instructed.

 

"Why would you tell me this?" the House questioned.

 

"Because we want to get back to our universe as badly as you do. And I'm nice," he explained, wishing that the damned thing would just do it already before he lost both his ship and his wife.

 

"Yes. I can delete rooms. And I can also rid myself of vermin if I delete this room first. Thank you, Doctor. Very helpful. Goodbye, Time Lord. Goodbye, little humans. Goodbye, Idris," the voice around them snarled and they all saw a flash of light as they were suddenly transported back into the main console room.

 

"Yes. I mean, you could do that, but it just won't work. Hardwired fail safe. Living things from rooms that are deleted are automatically deposited in the main control room. But thanks for the lift," the Doctor informed The House confidently, now that they were exactly where they needed to be.

 

"We are in your universe now, Doctor. Why should it matter to me in which room you die? I can kill you just as easily here as anywhere. Fear me. I've killed hundreds of Time Lords," the House replied.

 

"Fear me. I've killed all of them," the Doctor responded darkly.

 

"The only water in the forest is the river," Sexy rasped to Rory where she lay, clutching Rose's hand.

 

"I don't understand. There isn't a forest in here," Rory responded confusedly.

 

Rose decided that was somehow the connection between when she had called River, the Cub's Water earlier, but wasn't sure what the forest was about.

 

"Yeah, you're right. You've completely won. Oh, you can kill us in oodles of really inventive ways, but before you do kill us allow me and my wife, and friends Amy and Rory to congratulate you on being an absolutely worthy opponent," the Doctor told the House, clapping his hands and clearly stalling for time.

 

"Congratulations," Amy applauded with him, trusting that he had some reason for this ridiculous behaviour.

 

"Yep, you've defeated us. Me and my lovely friends here, and last but definitely not least, the TARDIS Matrix herself, a living consciousness you ripped out of this very control room and locked up into a human body. And look at her," the Doctor prompted as he saw the energy released from the body of Idris and strengthening. Rose was now unconscious on the floor, but he knew that she would be alright in just a moment.

 

"Doctor, she's stopped breathing," Rory told him sadly. "And Rose is in that coma-like state again."

 

"Enough. That is enough," the House growled impatiently.

 

"No. It's never enough. You forced the TARDIS into a body so she'd burn out safely a very long way away from this control room, taking MY WIFE with her by the way. A flesh body can't hold the TARDIS Matrix and live. Look at her body, House," the Doctor rambled.

 

"And you think I should mourn her?" the House asked.

 

The steel in the Doctor's voice was frightening as he replied, "No. I think you should be very, very careful about what you let back into this control room. You took her from her home. But now she's back in the box again, and she's free."

 

Golden energy swirled through the room, then. It flowed into the time rotor and a faint golden glow overtook the green light of the House. Rose gasped on the floor as she came back along with her heart.

 

"No. Doctor, stop this. Argh! Stop this now," the House shouted painfully.

 

"Oh, look at my girl. Look at her go. Bigger on the inside. You see, House?" he crowed happily and moved to help his wife up from the floor.

 

"Make her stop," the House pleaded.

 

"That's your problem. Size of a planet, but inside you are just so small," the Doctor taunted. "Finish him off, girl."

 

"Ow. Don't do this! Argh!" the being cried painfully as the golden light overtook the last vestiges of green.

 

The Doctor pulled Rose into a fierce hug and rubbed her back. She could feel his desperate fear at almost losing her again and sent him waves of reassurance. The image of their ship in Idris' body appeared before them and spoke softly, "Doctor, are you there? It's so very dark in here."

 

"I'm here," he told her.

 

"I've been looking for a word. A big, complicated word, but so sad. I've found it now."

 

"What word?" he asked tearfully.

 

"Alive. I'm alive," she told him.

 

"Alive isn't sad," he protested.

 

"It's sad when it's over. I'll always be here, connected to our Wolf, but this is when we talked, and now even that has come to an end. There's something I didn't get to say to you, either of you," Sexy told them.

 

"Goodbye?" he guessed.

 

"No. I just wanted to say hello. Hello, my Wolf and my Doctor. It's so very, very nice to meet you," she said sadly.

 

"Please. I don't want you to. Please," he cried and buried his face in Rose's shoulder when the image faded. The body she had inhabited was gone and everyone waited silently for a few moments, not daring to disrupt the solemnity of the scene.

 

Rory and Amy went to clean up, leaving Rose and the Doctor alone in the console room. They sat together on the jump seat for a long time, just holding each other and allowing their emotions to swirl around each other.

 

"I guess we have our answers about me, then?" Rose whispered, afraid to shatter the silence completely.

 

"Sort of. You and the TARDIS are connected, your life tied to hers somehow, but that doesn't tell us what would happen if you were fatally injured. The aliens at the Pandorica felt that you couldn't be killed, but that just means that they don't know how. You aren't like Jack, I'd know that, you aren't immortal, but neither is the TARDIS herself. You lose consciousness when the TARDIS is having trouble, what would happen to her if you were fatally injured? What would happen if the two of you were separated? I'm not sure, from what she said, how you managed to survive in that parallel universe without her for so long," he told her, voicing all of the worries swirling around in his head.

 

"But Doctor, despite all of that, you're missing something very important," she said and he turned to look into her beautiful, hazel eyes. "I'll be with you as long as the TARDIS is. You're never going to lose me". They both had tears in their eyes and he kissed her forehead lovingly.

 

Not wanting to be apart any time soon, Rose followed the Doctor down to the area below the console, where he sat in a little swing while working on repairs to the TARDIS. It was far more comfortable than when he needed to crawl beneath the grating of the floor in the previous control room design and the lighting was much better as well. He didn't need his little headlamp that he used to wear, but he did have some odd, magnifying goggles on at the moment.

 

Rory and Amy returned to the console room and the former called down to them, "How's it going under there?"

 

"Just putting a firewall around the Matrix. Almost done," the Doctor replied as they descended the stairs.

 

"Are you going to make her talk again?" Amy asked.

 

"I can't," he replied.

 

"Why not?" Rory asked.

 

"Spacey-wacey, isn't it?" Amy guessed.

 

"Well, actually, it's because the Time Lords discovered that if you take an eleventh dimensional matrix and fold it into a mechanical then...Yes, it's spacey-wacey."

 

"It's not the way she's meant to think, Amy. You saw how confused she was just trying to talk to us that way. She doesn't see time and identity and things the same way we do. Even if we could give her a voice, like a computer AI, most of it would seem like gibberish," Rose tried to explain.

 

"Sorry. At the end, she was talking. She kept repeating something. I don't know what it meant. Did you understand it, Rose?" Rory asked.

 

"I have a couple of ideas, but I'm not sure about any of them yet," she replied evasively, thinking she was becoming more and more like her husband.

 

"What did she say?" the Doctor questioned.

 

"The only water in the forest is the river. She said we'd need to know that someday. It doesn't make sense, does it?" Rory told him, confused by the woman's insistence that he know that.

 

"Not yet," he replied with a raised eyebrow towards his wife. He noticed that Rory seemed upset about something. "You okay?"

 

"No. I watched her die. I shouldn't let it get to me, but it still does. I'm a nurse," Rory responded.

 

"Letting it get to you. You know what that's called? Being alive. Best thing there is. Being alive right now, that's all that counts. Nearly finished. Two more minutes, then we're off. The Eye of Orion's restful, if you like restful. I can never really get the hang of restful. What do you think, dear? Where shall we take the kids this time?" the Doctor teased.

 

"Are you asking me or Sexy, husband?" Rose teased back.

 

The Doctor winked at her and she knew that it was a little bit of both. And since she and the TARDIS were connected, it was sort of the same thing too.

 

"The House deleted all the bedrooms. I should probably make you two a new bedroom. You'd like that, wouldn't you?" the Doctor told Amy and Rory.

 

"Okay. Er, Doctor, this time could we lose the bunk beds?" Amy grumbled.

 

"No. Bunk beds are cool. A bed with a ladder. You can't beat that. It's your room. Out those stairs, keep walking till you find it. Off you pop," he told them.

 

"So, how come we don't have a bed with a ladder if they're so cool?" Rose questioned.

 

"Because you, my jeopardy friendly wife, would probably manage to fall out of it and injure yourself," he replied with a bop on her nose.

 

"The only water in the forest is the river. She called River Water when she was talking about her and Jamie before. But what's that thing about the forest?" Rose wondered.

 

"I don't know, but I'm sure we'll find out before too long. Jamie seems to have figured out a lot of her secrets, but can't tell us yet for some reason. I've taught him too well, he's protecting us now," he responded with a sigh.

 

"It's a good thing, love. You're a wonderful father," she told him and ran her fingers through his thick hair. "Would you want another child someday?"

 

"Of course! I never got to be there the last time, but we've got centuries for that! Right now, I think, the Eye of Orion," he told her happily as he flicked the switches to send them on their way.

 

A few unexpected lights started blinking and one of the controls moved itself.

 

"Was that? Are you listening, Old Girl?" Rose questioned and they both felt a contented hum in their minds as the time rotor began to move on its own. They both laughed happily and caressed the edge of the console lovingly, dancing together around the controls of their beloved ship.


	8. Rebel Flesh

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posting this before I'm off out of town until Monday. Work, ugh. Anyway, hope you like this. And I'll try to work on the next stuff on my ipad while I'm away. Please review!!

**Chapter 8 - Rebel flesh**

 

The Doctor and Rose stared at the monitor where the scan of Amy couldn't decide whether she was actually pregnant or not. The amount of time that had passed since she thought she had gotten pregnant would have her almost ready to give birth by this point, but she looked just as slim as ever. They had also noticed a few odd things about her now and then, but couldn't pin down the problem for sure.

 

"So, what's your theory?" Rose asked. He used to hide these things from her; still hid them from all of their other companions. But she was his partner and equal and he no longer kept these things strictly to himself anymore.

 

"I think that she's been taken. Replaced with a copy, but telepathically still connected. The real Amy thinks she is here," he told her.

 

"Is that possible? Is there a technology that can do that? To the point that the TARDIS can't even show something about her isn't human?" Rose wondered. She didn't think they'd come across anything like that before.

 

"There is. It wasn't used for long because of the problems that developed with it, but we aren't dealing with ethical people here," he replied angrily.

 

"So, what do we need to do? How do we find the real Amy and save her?" she insisted.

 

"I need to go have a look at the technology up close so I can figure out a way to cut the link between her and the copy. But I don't think I want to bring them with us if we can help it," he explained.

 

"We can try to convince them to stay behind for a bit, but I'm not sure they'll go for it," she warned him as they started to walk over to where they were playing darts.

 

"Forty six. Rubbishy, rubbishy, rubbish," Amy told Rory.

 

"Hello? It's a double top," he argued.

 

"Wrong side of the wire, mister," she insisted.

 

"Who wants fish and chips?" the Doctor interrupted as he skidded to a stop next to them.

 

Rory raised his hand and Rose wished that she could go have some too, but they had an important task to take care of. Chips would have to wait.

 

"We'll drop you both off. Take your time. Don't rush," he told them dismissively and Rose knew immediately that this plan to ditch them wouldn't work.

 

"Er, and you?" Rory asked curiously.

 

"Oh, we have things to do. Things involving other things," the Doctor deflected.

 

"Well, we'll stay with you. We'll do the other things," Amy insisted.

 

"Nope," the Doctor replied.

 

"Told you," Rose sing-songed behind him, running a teasing finger across his shoulders.

 

"Oh, was this some kind of coupley trip?" Rory questioned, always seeming a little uncomfortable with their public displays of affection.

 

"Whatever you're up to, even if it is coupley, we're a couple too. I'd personally like to be a part of it," Amy responded. Before they could answer her, the ship lurched and an alarm blared. "What?" Amy shouted.

 

Rose and the Doctor ran to the console and tried to get the ship under control as he checked the scanner. "Solar tsunami. Came directly from your sun. A tidal wave of radiation. Big, big, big," he explained.

 

"Oh Doctor, my tummy's going funny," Rory groaned.

 

"Well, the gyrator disconnected. Target tracking is out," the Doctor explained, then shouted, "Assume the position!"

 

Rory and Amy curled up with their heads between their knees, while Rose and the Doctor braced themselves against the console, landing on their backs on the floor. They laughed together as usual when the shaking had stopped.

 

"Textbook landing," the Doctor announced.

 

"You two are so weird," Amy said, shaking her head.

 

"This floor isn't as bad as the last one for landing on. That metal grating was harsh," Rose told her as they all headed outside.

 

They opened the doors to a rather green looking island. A large stone building loomed next to where they had parked.

 

"Behold, a cockerel! Love a cockerel," the Doctor shouted gleefully as he pointed to the large weathervane. "And underneath, a monastery. Thirteenth century."

 

"Oh, we've gone all medieval," Amy cooed.

 

"I'm not sure about that," Rory corrected.

 

"Really? Medieval expert are you?" Amy argued.

 

"No, it's just that I can hear Dusty Springfield," he replied as they heard 'You Don't Have to Say You Love Me' echoing through the courtyard.

 

"He meant the monastery was built in the thirteenth century. It doesn't exactly look brand new," Rose commented.

 

The Doctor was looking closely at a pipe marked 'Danger Corrosive' that was in the ground, revealed by a large crack. "These fissures are new. Solar tsunami sent out a huge wave of gamma particles. This is caused by a magnetic quake that occurs just before the wave hits."

 

"Well, the monastery's standing," Amy observed.

 

The Doctor pulled a snow globe out of his pocket, shook it and examined it closely. Rose wondered what kind of strange modifications he had done to it that would allow the pattern of the snow drifting through it to predict the oncoming wave.

 

"Yeah, for now," he mumbled and stuffed the globe back into his pocket.

 

"Doctor, look," Rory pointed out the writing on the pipe and the Doctor scanned it with his sonic screwdriver.

 

"Yeah. It's a supply pipe. Ceramic inner lining. Something corrosive. They're pumping something nasty off this island to the mainland," he replied looking at the section of pipe.

 

Rory looked back up towards where the music was coming from and commented, "My mum's a massive fan of Dusty Springfield."

 

"Who isn't? Right, let's go. Satisfy our rabid curiosity," the Doctor told them, deciding that they'd just have to get this investigation over with while the couple was still with them. The TARDIS seemed to think that was best based on her actions.

 

“You know, the last you was a punk. Can't imagine Dusty Springfield being on your playlist then,” Rose teased her husband.

 

“Oi, I think at my age, I'm allowed to have fairly broad tastes in music,” he argued.

 

“Can't see blue eyes and leather liking it either,” she insisted.

 

“But it suits this me just fine?” he questioned.

 

“Well, this you seems a little more old fashioned. A little less punk, a little less hard rock, a little more quirky,” she said as she playfully bumped his shoulder.

 

They walked through the courtyard, looking for the best place to enter. Rose and the Doctor walked hand in hand, their bracelets clinking together to allow their mutual worries and feelings of support to swirl around each other. The Doctor had his sonic in his other hand, scanning to make sure that they were at the right factory to examine the Flesh technology.

 

"So where are these Dusty Springfield loving monks, then?" Amy asked suddenly, interrupting their thoughts.

 

"I think we're here. This is it," the Doctor announced as he decided that this was indeed the factory that they needed to check.

 

"Doctor, what are you talking about? We've never been here before," Rory responded, confused by his behaviour.

 

"Hmm?" he asked distractedly.

 

"We came here by accident?" Amy questioned suspiciously.

 

_"Always has been a smart one,"_ Rose thought to her husband.

 

"Accident? Yes, I know. Accident," the Doctor replied assuredly.

 

"Ow!" Rory cried when he touched a part of a nearby pipe that had crusted over with a small leak.

 

"Acid. They're pumping acid off this island. That's old stuff. Fresh acid, you wouldn't have a finger," the Doctor explained.

 

"Intruder alert. Intruder alert," a voice announced loudly.

 

"There are people coming. Well, almost," the Doctor told them and pulled them from the courtyard and into the closest door.

 

"Almost coming?" Amy asked as they ran.

 

"Almost people," he replied as Rose used her sonic on the door.

 

"I think we should really be going," Rory argued.

 

"Come on!" Amy shouted at him and pulled him along after them.

 

"I'm telling you. When something runs towards you, it is never for a nice reason," Rory insisted.

 

They entered a room where several people seemed to be sleeping on some kind of inclined beds. There was a harness of some kind connecting them to some equipment next to each of them. The low hum of machinery and soft beeps of the monitoring computers filled the room. One of the beds was empty for the moment.

 

"What are all these harnesses for?" Amy asked.

 

"The almost people?" Rory postulated.

 

Rose was looking at one of them closely and checked over how the person was connected to the computers.

 

"What are they, prisoners, or are they meditating, or what?" Amy guessed.

 

"Or what," Rose answered over her shoulder.

 

"Halt and remain calm," someone ordered over a PA system.

 

All of them froze in place and turned to look at the people entering the room. There were two men carrying large poles with something sharp and pointed at the end, and one woman.

 

"Well, we've halted. How are we all doing on the calm front?" the Doctor asked when no one seemed to be saying anything for a long while.

 

"Don't move!" one of the men ordered and they gestured with their weapons threateningly.

 

"Stay back, Jen. We don't know who they are," the other man said to the woman between them.

 

"So let's ask them. Who the hell are you?" she questioned logically.

 

Amy and Rose looked back and forth between the people in the harnesses and the people in front of them. Rose realized that the people they were facing were the 'almost people' that the Doctor had been referring to. Amy was just getting more confused however.

 

"Well, I'm the Doctor, and this is Rose, Amy, and Rory, and it's all very nice, isn't it?" the Doctor replied calmly.

 

"Hold up. You're all. What are you all? Like identical twins?" Amy asked.

 

Two more people entered the room. They were both wearing protective suits.

 

"This is an Alpha Grade industrial facility. Unless you work for the military or for Morpeth Jetson, you are in big trouble," the newest woman told them.

 

"Actually, you're in big trouble," the Doctor corrected her and brandished the psychic paper.

 

"Meteorological Department? Since when?" the woman groused.

 

"Since you were hit by a solar wave," he replied, tucking the little wallet back into his pocket.

 

"Which we survived," she argued.

 

"Just, by the look of it. And there's a bigger one on the way," he warned.

 

"Which we'll also survive. Dicken, scan for bugs," she ordered and one of the men in protective gear approached them.

 

“Backs against the wall. Now,” Dicken told them as he prepared his scanner.

 

“Oi! We're going,” Rose complained when he got a little too close.

 

“You're not a monastery, you're a factory. Twenty second century army-owned factory,” the Doctor announced as an explanation to Amy and Rory.

 

“You're army?” Amy questioned.

 

“No, love. We're contractors, and you're trespassers,” the woman responded curtly.

 

“It's clear, boss,” the one they assumed was Dicken told the woman after scanning each of them.

 

“All right, weatherman, your ID checks out. If there's another solar storm, what are you going to do about it? Hand out sunblock?” she conceded grumpily.

 

“I need to see your critical systems,” he replied confidently.

 

“Which one?” she asked.

 

“You know which one,” he told her simply.

 

They were led to a nearby room with a giant vat. It was filled with a white liquid that bubbled slightly.

 

“And there you are,” the Doctor called as he climbed up next to the vat to take a closer look at it.

 

“Meet the government's worst kept secret. The Flesh. It's fully programmable matter. In fact, it's even learning to replicate itself at the cellular level,” she explained.

 

“Right. Brilliant. Lost,” Amy replied. She never had been great with the pretending you belong here routine after all.

 

“Okay. Once a reading's been taken, we can manipulate its molecular structure into anything. Replicate a living organism down to the hairs on its chinny chin chin. Even clothes. And everything's identical. Eyes, voice...” the woman explained.

 

“Mind, soul,” the Doctor interrupted.

 

“Don't be fooled, Doctor. It acts like life but it still needs to be controlled by us, from those harnesses you saw,” she insisted.

 

“Wait, whoa. Hold it. So, you're Flesh now?” Rory asked in shock.

 

“I'm lying in a harness back in that chamber. We all are, except Jennifer here. Don't be scared. This thing, just like operating a forklift truck,” she told him.

 

“But you said this stuff was growing, yeah? I thought only living things could grow like that?” Rose asked.

 

“Moss grows. It's no more than that. This acid is so dangerous we were losing a worker every week. So now we mine the acid using these doppelgängers. Or Gangers. If these bodies get burnt or fall in the acid...” the woman insisted.

 

“Then who the hell cares, right, Jen?” one of the others concluded.

 

“Nerve endings automatically cut off like airbags being discharged. We wake up and get a new Ganger,” Jen told them.

 

“It's weird, but you get used to it,” another said.

 

“Jennifer, I want you in your Ganger. Get back to the harness,” the woman who seemed to be in charge told her and she left back towards the room with the harnesses.

 

The Doctor took a moment to scan the liquid in the vat with his sonic screwdriver. It bubbled and seemed to respond to the scan slightly. Rose stood next to him, watching closely as the stuff seemed to behave more like the blob of Nestene goo than moss as they were insisting.

 

“Hang on, what's he up to? What you up to, pal?” one of the workers questioned suddenly.

 

The Doctor found that there was a force exerting itself over his hand and he had trouble pulling the sonic away for a moment. “Stop it. Strange. It was like for a moment there it was scanning me,” he said in excited curiosity.

 

“Doctor,” the woman sighed.

 

He ignored them completely and held his hand over the surface of the liquid. Rose tensed beside him, ready to pull him away if necessary. His palm was suddenly pulled into contact with the Flesh and he held it there a moment as if in telepathic contact with it. The liquid bubbled and his hand shook as he clenched his eyes shut. Rose could feel his fear at what was happening but he mentally urged her not to interfere.

 

“Get back, Doctor. Leave it alone,” the woman insisted loudly.

 

The Doctor finally managed to pull his hand away and looked at Rose in shock, then back at the liquid, then over to the woman. “I understand,” he whispered.

 

“Are you alright, love? Could you talk to it or something?” Rose questioned.

 

“Incredible. You have no idea. No idea. I mean, I felt it in my mind. I reached out to it, and it to me,” he told them in awe.

 

“Don't fiddle with the money, Doctor,” the woman grumbled.

 

“How can you be so blinkered? It's alive. So alive. You're piling your lives, your personalities directly into it,” he told her. There was a large flash and rumbling sound from outside. “It's the solar storm. The first waves come in pairs. Pre-shock and fore-shock. It's close,” the Doctor warned.

 

“Buzzer, we got anything from the mainland yet?” the woman asked.

 

“No, the comms are still too jammed with radiation,” Buzzer replied.

 

“Okay. Then we'll keep pumping acid until the mainland says stop. Now why don't you stand back and let us impress you?” she told them as they prepared to make a new Ganger.

 

They all watched as a bathtub sized vat filled with the white liquid. It slowly took shape and eventually, they could see veins, eyes, and the facial features that they recognized as Jen appeared. She opened her eyes and blinked at them before sitting up with a gasp.

  
“Well, I can see why you keep it in a church. Miracle of life,” the Doctor told them.

  
“No need to get poncey. It's just gunge,” Buzzer sneered.

  
“Guys, we need to get to work,” the woman told them.

  
“Okay, everybody, let's crack on,” the man that hadn't been named yet agreed.

  
“Did I mention the solar storm? You need to get out of here,” the Doctor insisted.

  
“Where do you want us to go? We're on a tiny island,” he replied.

  
“Well, I can get you all off it,” the Doctor told them.

  
“Don't be ridiculous. We've got a job to do,” the woman scoffed.

  
“Have you all lost your minds? Is this job worth more than your lives? It's coming,” Rose warned when it was clear that they weren't taking this seriously.

 

A loud klaxon sounded and Jen gasped, “That's the alarm.”  
  


“How do you get power?” the Doctor asked urgently.

  
“We're solar. We use a solar router. The weathervane,” the woman responded.

  
“Big problem,” the Doctor groaned, realizing that was the worst possible situation when dealing with a solar storm.

  
“Boss, maybe if the storm's back we should get underground. The factory's seen better days. The acid pipes might not withstand another hit,” Buzzer suggested.

  
“We have two hundred tons of acid to pump out. We fall behind, we stay another rotation. Anyone want that?” she asked pointedly.

  
“Please,” the Doctor growled as he pulled her away from the group by her arm. “You are making a massive mistake here. You're right at the crossroads of it. Don't turn the wrong way. If you don't, if you don't prepare for this storm, you are all in terrible danger. Understand?”

  
“My factory, my rules,” she insisted stubbornly.

 

“Are you seriously going to risk everyone's lives over not wanting someone else to be right?” Rose questioned, trying to make the woman see sense.

  
“I need to check the progress of the storm. Monitoring station?” the Doctor asked, pointing at Jennifer. She hesitated in answering and he insisted more forcefully, “Monitoring station.”

  
“Three lefts, a right and a left. Third door on your left,” she answered finally.

  
“Thank you,” he replied and tugged Rose along with him to check the sensors. Amy and Rory following behind them.

 

They entered a room filled with computers and the Doctor checked all the screens frantically as he explained what was happening, “Waves disturbing the Earth's magnetic field. There is going to be the mother and father of all power surges. See this weathervane, the cock-a-doodle-do? It's a solar router feeding the whole factory with solar power. When that wave hits, ka-boom. I've to get to that cockerel before all hell breaks loose.” He stopped in the doorway for a moment to turn back towards the others and smiled. “I never thought I'd have to say that again. Amy, breathe,” he added before turning back out the door and pulling Rose along with him.

  
“Yeah! I mean, thanks. I'll try,” Amy called after him, confused by the direction.

 

When they got outside, the sky was shining with an odd orange light, the wind was blowing fiercely, and there was an odd kind of lightning sparking all around them. The weathervane was spinning in circles and the Doctor ran toward it. He climbed the ladder up to the box marked 'high voltage' and opened it. Rose had tried to follow him, but with the ladder as narrow as it was, they couldn't both reach into the box anyway, so she stood nervously at the bottom of the ladder.

 

Amy and Rory stood in the doorway as balls of energy struck the building, raining down from the sky. The building shook violently and they watched in horror as lightning struck the cockerel above. A massive power surge caused the box next to the Doctor to explode violently, throwing him down into Rose's arms, knocking them both to the ground.

 

“Doctor!” she shouted as the power in the facility shut off completely and they were all knocked unconscious.


	9. The Rebel Flesh: Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay on this one, it gave me fits and I'm still trying to decide how much of the next episode to keep the same and how much to change.

Chapter 9 – The Rebel Flesh: Part 2

 

 

The Doctor awoke first and checked over his wife. Her eyes opened slowly and she clutched at her head. "Alright, love?" he asked as he helped her sit up.

 

"Yeah. Think I should be asking you that. You're the one who got electrocuted up there," she responded groggily. The storm was still going on, but it wasn't as violent as before.

 

"Oh, well, superior Gallifreyan physiology after all," he told her with a smirk and they both got up to assess the damage.

 

"Were you expecting that lot here?" Rose questioned.

 

"Yes, I had a full report of the staff here on the computer before we came. That woman in charge, her name is Cleaves. You spotted that stubborn streak from a mile away. I knew that I probably wouldn't be able to prevent the accident today just based on her profile, but we had to try," he told her.

 

"Of course we did, Doctor, that's what we do. Now, what about that Flesh stuff? You talked to it telepathically?" she wondered.

 

"Oh yes, and it remembers. It is so alive and it remembers what is happening to it," he told her.

 

"Oh my god! It remembers dying over and over again? That's awful," she cried.

 

"We'll put a stop to it. Don't worry, but I also still need to figure out how to sever the connection between Amy and the one with us without hurting her," he responded and they saw the woman, Cleaves approaching them from across the courtyard. "Cleaves, you're not in your harness," the Doctor pointed out.

 

"I'm sorry, Doctor. You were right," Cleaves told him.

 

"You've lost all power to the factory," he informed her.

 

"Doctor, I abandoned my team," she said regretfully.

 

"Then let's go get them," he replied. They headed inside and the Doctor considered how long they had been out. "How long would you say we were unconscious for, Cleaves?"

 

"Not long. A minute, two minutes?" she answered.

 

Rose looked at her husband curiously, knowing his time sense gave him a good idea of how long it had been whether he was conscious or not.

 

"I'd hazard we've been out a teensy bit longer," he told her.

 

"Well, how long?" Cleaves asked worriedly.

 

"An hour. I've seen whole worlds turned inside out in an hour. A lot can go wrong in an hour," he warned and clasped his wife's hand tightly. She could feel his worry over their situation intensify as their bracelets clicked together and put herself on full alert to see anything out of the ordinary.

 

As the Doctor, Rose, and Cleaves entered the harness room, they saw Buzzer being helped out of his equipment. Amy and Rory were there as well, helping the workers reorient themselves after waking up.

 

“Doctor, these are all real people, so where are their Gangers?” Amy asked him.

 

“Don't worry. When the link shuts down the Gangers return to pure Flesh. Now, the storm's left us with acid leaks all over, so we need to contact the mainland. They can have a rescue shuttle out here in no time,” Cleaves informed them.

 

They were all surprised to hear Dusty Springfield music start up again in the distance and looked at each other in confusion.

 

“That's my record. Who's playing my record?” Jimmy asked worriedly. Everyone was already accounted for in the room.

 

“Your Gangers. They've gone walkabout,” the Doctor replied.

 

“No, it's impossible. They're not active. Cars don't fly themselves, cranes don't lift themselves, and Gangers don't...” Cleaves insisted but trailed off when the song changed suddenly.

 

All of them rushed over to the dining hall where the record player was located. When they arrived, they discovered that the place was a mess. All of their things were tossed around the room, the record player was still running and there was a tower made of playing cards on the table.

 

“No way,” Buzzer gasped.

 

“I don't, I don't believe this,” Cleaves breathed as she took in the space.

 

“They could've escaped through the service door at the back,” Jimmy said as they searched the room.

 

The Doctor sat at the table, a sad expression on his face as the workers grew more and more upset. Rose sat with him, admiring the tower of cards.

 

“This is just like the Isle of Sheppey,” Buzzer commented.

 

“It would seem the storm has animated your Gangers,” the Doctor explained.

 

“They've ransacked everything,” Cleaves grumbled.

 

“Not ransacked, searched,” the Doctor corrected.

 

“Through our stuff!” Cleaves argued.

 

“Their stuff too,” Rose added.

 

“Searching for what?” Jimmy wondered.

 

“Confirmation. They need to know their memories are real,” the Doctor told them.

 

“Oh, so they've got flaming memories now,” Buzzer snarked angrily.

 

“They feel compelled to connect to their lives,” the Doctor insisted.

 

“Their stolen lives,” Cleaves shouted adamantly.

 

“No, bequeathed. You gave them this. You poured in your personalities, emotions, traits, memories, secrets, everything. You gave them your lives. Human lives are amazing. Are you surprised they walked off with them?” the Doctor informed them.

 

“I'll say it again. Isle of Sheppey. Ganger got an electric shock, toddled off, killed his operator right there in his harness. I've seen the photos. This bloke's ear was all hanging...” Buzzer told them.

 

“Even if this has actually happened, they can't remain stable without us plumbed in to them, can they, boss?” Jimmy interrupted, not wanting to hear the gory details.

 

“Guess we'll find out,” Cleaves responded, finally acknowledging that she didn't know what to expect this time.

 

“Are you okay? Do you need some water?” Rory asked Jennifer, who was still shaken.

 

“I feel funny. I need the washroom,” she replied and ran from the room.

 

“I'll come with you,” Rory called after her and followed her out of the room, clearly worried.

 

“This is really cool,” Rose commented regarding the cards. Her husband nodded in agreement.

 

“That's me. It's good to have a hobby. So what, my Ganger did that all on its own?” Buzzer asked.

 

“Who taught you to do this?” the Doctor asked him.

 

“My granddad,” he replied.

 

“Well, your Ganger's granddad taught him to do it, too. You both have the same childhood memories, just as clear, just as real,” the Doctor insisted, knowing that they still weren't accepting the fact that as far as these new lives were concerned, they had all of the exact same memories. They likely wouldn't even know if they were the originals or not.

 

“No,” Buzzer retorted.

 

“Scared, disorientated, struggling to come to terms with an entire life in their heads,” the Doctor told them firmly.

 

“We need to protect ourselves,” Jimmy suggested.

 

The Doctor decided that he needed to test which people were which, so he popped a meal into the microwave.  
  


“Why would anyone need protection? Are you a violent man, Jimmy?” Rose questioned.

  
“No,” he scoffed as if that were ridiculous.

  
“Then why would the other Jimmy be?” the Doctor asked pointedly.

  
“Don't tell me you can eat at a time like this, Doctor,” Cleaves protested his seemingly casual approach to all of this.

  
“You told me we were out cold for a few minutes, Cleaves, when in fact it was an hour,” the Doctor responded.

  
“Sorry, I just assumed...” she began.

  
“Well, it's not your fault. Like I said, they're disoriented. Amy, when you got to the alcoves, who was in harness?” the Doctor asked.

  
“Jimmy and Dicken were helping Buzzer out,” Amy replied.

  
“Jennifer?” he asked.

  
“She was standing on her own when we got to her,” Amy told him.

 

The microwave bell rang and the Doctor used a pot holder to take the plate out. He handed it to Cleaves who was standing nearby. She grabbed it impatiently, still frustrated with his apparent lack of concern over the situation.  
  
“It's hot,” he told her and she immediately dropped it on the floor. “Trans-matter's still a little rubbery. Nerve endings not quite fused properly,” he explained.

  
“What are you talking about?” she growled at him.

  
“It's okay,” he told her and Rose realized what that little experiment was all about.

  
"Why didn't I feel that?" Cleaves asked fearfully.

  
"You will. You'll stabilize," the Doctor assured her.

  
"No, stop it. You're playing stupid games. Stop it!" she shouted and turned away from the Doctor and Rose as she stared at her hand that should have felt the burning plate.

  
"You don't have to hide. Please, trust me. I'm the Doctor," he told her calmly and approached her from behind.

 

She turned suddenly, her face looking like one of the almost formed Gangers, the features not quite clear and her eyes an odd colour. Buzzer grabbed a screwdriver from the table, but Jimmy held him back from doing anything rash.  
  
"Where's the real Cleaves, you thing? What have you done with her?" Buzzer demanded.

 

"Buzzer, you need to calm down, alright?" Rose told him, positioning herself slightly between the man and this version of his boss.

  
"That's it. Good, you remember. This is early Flesh. The early stages of the technology. So much to learn," the Doctor commented upon seeing that this Cleaves now seemed to acknowledge that she was one of the Gangers.

  
"Doctor, what's happened to her?" Amy asked warily.

  
"She can't stabilize. She's shifting between half-formed and full-formed, for now at least," he explained.

  
"We are living," Cleaves growled at them and ran from the room screaming.

  
"Let her go," the Doctor warned when it looked like they might try to hunt her down.

  
"Doctor, Rory," Amy reminded him.

  
"Rory?" he questioned, not seeing what Rory had to do with any of this as his mind worked on a plan.

 

"Was that Jennifer a Ganger too?" Rose wondered.

  
"Rory!" Amy shouted as she ran to find him.

  
"Oh, Rory. Rory! Always with the Rory," he groaned as they followed her and Rose elbowed him in the ribs.

 

The Doctor, Rose, Amy, and Jimmy ran through the hallway towards the washrooms, where Jennifer had been headed when they left, but they suddenly found their way blocked by broken barrels and a pool of dangerous acid.

  
"Explosion must've ruptured the acid feeds. We're going to need the acid suits," Jimmy told them.

  
"No, no, no. We haven't got time. Back, back, back!" the Doctor instructed before anyone was hurt. He led them around another way to reach the washrooms.

"Rory," Amy gasped as she looked around the empty room. There was a hole punched through the door of one of the stalls and the mirror was smashed.

 

"Of course, like you said Rose, Jennifer's a Ganger too," the Doctor realized.

 

"Doctor, you said they wouldn't be violent," Amy protested as she took in the damage around the room.

 

"But I did say they were scared and angry," he countered.

 

"And early technology, is what you said. You seem to know something about the Flesh," Jimmy accused angrily.

 

"Do you? Doctor? Rose?" Amy questioned worriedly.

 

Rose looked at Amy guiltily, wishing that they could tell her why they needed to learn more about the Flesh.

 

"You're no weatherman. Why are you really here?" Jimmy demanded.

 

The Doctor ran a hand over his face and exchanged a look with his wife. "I have to talk to them. I can fix this," he told them as he grabbed Rose's hand and dashed back down the corridor.

 

"Wait. What's going on? Where's the real Jennifer?" Jimmy shouted as he chased after them.

 

The Doctor pulled Rose with him down the corridor, Amy and Jimmy following close behind, but they all skidded to a stop when one of the pipes ruptured in front of them, dangerous steam spewing from it. The Doctor urged all of them to back away from it a bit and grumbled, "It is too dangerous out here with acid leaks."

 

"We have to find Rory," Amy insisted.

 

"Of course we will, Amy," Rose assured her.

 

"Yes. We're going back to the TARDIS. Wait for me in the dining hall. I want us to keep together, okay. No more wandering off," the Doctor ordered, frustrated by how complicated this whole trip had become. That wasn't anything new of course, but it was frustrating.

 

"And what about Rory?" Amy questioned.

 

"Well, it would be safer to look for Rory and Jennifer with the TARDIS," he replied.

 

Jimmy was searching for something in a nearby cabinet. "Here we go. Distress flares," he told them as he pulled the items from the piles of other equipment.

 

"Exit?" the Doctor asked.

 

"Keep going straight. Can't miss it. But you're never going to get your vehicle in here," Jimmy said disbelievingly.

 

"I'm a great parker," the Doctor responded with a smirk.

 

"Better at parking than driving," Rose teased as she bumped shoulders with him.

 

"Oh, you..." he growled with narrowed eyes, but there wasn't any heat in it, and pulled her with him down the hallway toward the exit and their time ship.

 

As they made their way through the darkening building, the couple passed through the room that contained the vat of liquid flesh. The Doctor stopped for a moment to scan it with his sonic.

 

"Did the accident have any effect on the stuff that wasn't already formed?" Rose asked him.

 

"Not sure yet. Maybe," he replied. She could tell he was distracted, hundreds of plans running through his mind at once. He grasped her hand again and continued running towards the TARDIS. Rose looked back over her shoulder as they left the room, she had an odd feeling in the back of her mind. It was almost as if her husband's presence was echoing, but the feelings weren't identical.

 

When they got outside, the sky was dark and the ground was steaming where the acid from the factory was spilling everywhere. They looked around for their ship and saw just the roof and light sticking out of a square hole where it had sunk into the ground.

 

"Oh. What are you doing down there?" the Doctor questioned the ship accusingly.

 

"It's not her fault!" Rose exclaimed in her defence.

 

The Doctor suddenly noticed that his boots were steaming similarly to the ground around them and he kicked them off, jumping back onto the stairs with his wife. Rose couldn't help but giggle at him as he walked barefoot back through the corridors to find the others.

 

"You know, we really ought to find a way to call her to us in emergencies. There've been a few too many times where we thought we had lost her forever," Rose suggested.

 

"I've tried to do something like that before, but it's never worked. It's one thing to have set coordinates pre-programmed, like your parents' place for example, but having her lock onto my screwdriver or myself is just too complicated to do without someone actually driving. Although, if we take a closer look at the connection between you and her now, there might be a way. It would be especially helpful if your life is so tied to hers now the way she implied," he rambled in thought.

 

They found the acid room, where the Doctor was hoping to retrieve some of the safety suits. The acid suits were there, but so were the newly independent Gangers.

  
"Hello. How are you all getting on?" the Doctor asked them nervously, pulling Rose slightly behind him.

  
"Why don't you tell us?" asked the woman who was Cleaves, but wasn't at the same time. Her memories, thoughts and voice were the same as the other Cleaves, but for the moment, her skin was bright white, her features blurred, and her eyes fierce.

  
"Well, we have two choices. The first is to tear each other apart. Not my favourite. The second is to knuckle down and work together. Try to work out how best we can help you," he urged them.

Rose and her husband led the group of Gangers back to the dining hall, where he had instructed the others to wait for them. The Doctor tried to coach them slightly on how best to make these negotiations work. "Now, I know its hard for you to hold your fully human form. That's why you keep shifting between the Flesh stages, but do try. It'll make the others less scared of you."

They could hear an argument in progress as they approached and it became clear that they had found the Ganger Jennifer as she pleaded with them, "Jimmy, Buzzer. Come on, you guys. We've worked together for two years."

  
"I worked with Jennifer Lucas, not you," Buzzer insisted.

  
"Okay, let's not do anything at all," Amy interrupted them, hoping to calm everyone down and the Doctor joined her in finishing, "until the Doctor gets here."

"Hello," he greeted them cheerfully as the human and Ganger versions watched each other warily.  
  
"This is..." the human Jimmy began as he stared at his copy.

  
"You're telling me," the other Jimmy replied.

  
"All right, Doctor, you've brought us together. Now what?" the Ganger Cleaves asked impatiently.

"Before we do anything, I have one very important question. Has anybody got a pair of shoes I could borrow? Size ten. Although I should warn you, I have very wide feet," the Doctor questioned and the others all noticed suddenly that he had been walking around in bare feet for some time now. One of them found him a spare pair of work boots and he was content to continue their negotiations.

 

"The Flesh was never merely moss. These are not copies. The storm has hardwired them. They are becoming people," the Doctor explained to the originals, his new boots kicked up onto the table where he was lounging, prepared for a long debate.

  
"With souls?" Jimmy questioned.

  
"Rubbish!" Dicken scoffed and sneezed.

  
"Bless you," the Doctor told him and continued, "We were all jelly once. Little jelly eggs sitting in goop."

  
"Yeah, thanks. Too much information," Amy complained, a look of disgust on her face as she considered that.

  
"We are not talking about an accident that needs to be mopped up. We are talking about sacred life. Do you understand?" he asked and received tentative nods from the people in the room. "Good. Now, the TARDIS is trapped in an acid pool. Once I can reach her, I can get you all off this island, humans and Gangers, eh? How does that sound?" he added, hoping that they could all work together for at least a few hours.

  
"Can I make it home for Adam's birthday?" Jimmy wondered.

  
"What about me? He's my son too," Ganger Jimmy responded.

  
"You? You really think that?" the original asked him with a sneer.

  
"I feel it," the copy argued with a thump on his chest.

  
"Oh, so you were there when he was born, were you?" Jimmy countered.

  
"Yeah. I drank about eight pints of tea, then they told me I had a wee boy and I just burst out laughing. No idea why. I miss home, as much as you," recalled the memory just as clearly as the other Jimmy.

  
"Look, I'm not going to lie to you. It's a right old mess, this. But as you might say up North, oh well, I'll just go to't foot of stairs. Eee by by gum. Or not. Good. Right. First step is we get everyone together, then get everyone safe. Then, get everyone out of here," the Doctor told them. He expected Rose to tease him about previously sounding like he was from the North himself before, but he noticed her staring confusedly into the darkness as if looking for something.

  
"But we're still missing Jennifer and Cleaves," Amy pointed out.

  
"I'll go and look for them," Jimmy volunteered.

  
"I'll give you a hand, if you like. Cover more ground," Ganger Jimmy offered and the two stared at each other a moment.

  
"Yeah, okay. Thanks," he agreed.

  
"This circus has gone on long enough," Cleaves shouted as she entered the room. They heard the sound of the device in her hands powering up.

  
"Oh, great. You see, that is just so typically me," Ganger Cleaves responded, frustrated that her other self was the one to ruin everything.

  
"Doctor, tell it to shut up!" Cleaves growled angrily.

  
"Cleaves, no. No, no," the Doctor yelled as he tried to intervene.

  
"Circuit probe. Fires about ooo, forty thousand volts? Would kill any one of us, so I guess she'll work on Gangers just the same," Cleaves informed them proudly.

 

"Are you insane?" Rose asked, eyes wide.

  
"It's interesting you refer to them as it, but you call a glorified cattle prod a she," the Doctor pointed out.

  
"When the real people are safely off this island, then I'll happily talk philosophy over a pint with you, Doctor," she replied, staring threateningly at the Gangers across the room.

  
"What are you going to do to them?" Amy questioned, not believing that anyone could be so cruel.

  
"Sorry. They're monsters. Mistakes. They have to be destroyed," Cleaves answered. She wasn't sorry for what she planned to do, but sorry that she seemed to be upsetting Amy. Rose saw a bit of irony in that when she considered the fact that, at the moment, Amy's consciousness was inhabiting a Ganger herself.

  
"Give me the probe, Cleaves," the Doctor ordered.

  
"We always have to take charge, don't we, Miranda. Even when we don't really know what the hell is going on," Ganger Cleaves confronted herself.

 

Ganger Buzzer saw what he felt was an opening and rushed toward Cleaves to try and disarm her. She reacted quickly, however, and he fell to the ground, muscle spasms wracking his body for a moment before he became frighteningly still.  
  
The Doctor rushed to his side to check for a pulse and cursed, "Argh! He's dead!"

  
"We call it decommissioned," Cleaves sneered coldly.

  
"You stopped his heart. He had a heart. Aorta, valves, a real human heart. And you stopped it," the Doctor wailed painfully at the thought of how he had just failed in his attempts to fix all of this peacefully.

 

Ganger Jennifer was staring fearfully at the body on the floor and Rory approached her, knowing how jumpy and upset she had been earlier. "Jen?" He asked cautiously.

  
"What happened to Buzzer will happen to all of us if we trust you," she cried and turned to run.

  
"Wait, wait, just wait," the Doctor pleaded as everyone began to panic at once.

 

"Stop! What are you doing?" Rose yelled when she saw Cleaves ready to lunge at more of the Gangers.

  
"No!" Rory shouted and dove on Cleaves, managing to disconnect the sparking probe from the power supply. He and Cleaves tumbled to the floor in a heap and the remaining Gangers fled the room.

 

Amy rushed to Rory's side in an instant, pulling him away from the insane woman that had been trying to kill people. "You idiot!" she shouted angrily and smacked his arm once she was sure that he was alive and safe. She had been frantic to find him and keep him safe through the whole adventure and he kept putting himself in harm's way.

 

Rose wondered if her protectiveness was partly stemming from having lost him before to the crack in time and his sudden willingness to be a protector for everyone from his time guarding the Pandorica.

  
"Wait! Look at what you have done, Cleaves," the Doctor warned as the workers collected themselves and prepared to hunt down the others.

  
"If it's war, then it's war. You don't get it, Doctor. How can you? It's us and them now. Us and them," Cleaves informed him confidently.

  
"Us and them," Dicken agreed.

  
Jimmy looked at them, seeming less sure of the lines they were drawing. Finally, he sighed and said, "Us and them."

 

Amy and Rory were arguing in the corner, the factory workers were whispering in a huddle and Rose could feel the Doctor's worry as he tried to formulate a new plan that might still get the most people out of there alive. There was still an odd echoing in the back of her mind, but it seemed fuzzy and unfocused, so she tried to concentrate on what was happening around her.

  
"The most fortified and defendable room in the monastery," the Doctor shouted suddenly. When there was no immediate response, he asked again, more directly, "Cleaves, the most fortified and defendable room in the monastery."

  
"The chapel," she replied.

  
"Thank you."

  
"Only one way in. Stone walls two feet thick," she told him, justifying why she felt it was easily defended.

  
"You've crossed one hell of a line, Cleaves. You've killed one of them. They're coming back, in a big way," the Doctor warned.

 

"We could have all been safe and home, found new lives for the others or something, where you wouldn't have been bothered if necessary. But you had to go and put everyone's lives in danger," Rose chastised and her husband grasped her shoulder firmly, urging her to back away before the volatile woman turned on her too.

  
They all made their way to the chapel, watching for any signs of the Gangers.

"What about the flares?" Jimmy asked, thinking that they might be able to be rescued before this got any worse.

  
"We'll worry about the flares when we're locked inside," he responded as he ushered Rose into the room. He saw Rory hesitating in the hallway and Amy held back, refusing to lose him again. "Rory, Pond," he urged.

 

They heard a scream down the hall that sounded like Jennifer and he turned to go toward it.

  
"Rory, come on," Amy insisted.

  
"Jen's out there. She's out there and she's on her own," he told them and took off.

  
"Well, if she's got any sense, then she's hiding. Rory!" the Doctor shouted after his retreating back.

  
"I can't leave her out there!" Rory called over his shoulder.

  
"Rory," Rose pleaded from behind her husband.

  
Rory paused at the corner to look back and told them earnestly, "I know you understand that."  
  


"Get in here. Get in here!" Amy insisted, struggling against the Doctor's grip where he kept her from running after him as well.

 

The Gangers appeared at the end of the hallway, wearing the protective acid suits and carrying the sharp poles that they had been threatening them with at the start of this while adventure. Rory ducked down the side corridor before they reached him and the Doctor managed to pull everyone, including Amy behind the solid door to the chapel before their foes arrived.

 

Amy was still fighting the Doctor to try and go back out the door. Rose held her shoulders firmly as she tried to calm her down. The Doctor insisted, "Amy, they are not after him, they're after us."

 

Rose gasped suddenly as she felt the echoing presence in her head burst into full awareness.

 

"Rose! Rose, love, what's the matter?" the Doctor pleaded as he held her securely and looked for injuries.

  
"Why? Why?" a voice groaned from the shadowy corner of the room.

  
"Show yourself. Show yourself!" the Doctor demanded, protectively turning Rose away from the threat.

  
"This is insane. We're fighting ourselves," Jimmy insisted as he helped the others barricade the door with anything heavy that they could find in the room.

  
"Yes. Yes, it's insane, and it's about to get even more insanerer. Is that a word? Show yourself, right now!" the Doctor ordered whoever was in the room with them as Rose calmed her breathing and wasn't leaning on him quite as much. He was pretty sure he knew exactly who it was that was hiding in the dark.

  
"Doctor, we are trapped in here and Rory's out there with them. Hello? We can't get to the TARDIS and we can't even leave the island," Amy complained, not seeing how his plan was going to save them this time.

**   
** "Correct in every respect, Pond. It's frightening, unexpected, frankly a total, utter splattering mess on the carpet, but I am certain, one hundred percent certain, that we can work this out," the familiar voice from the shadows replied. Rose gasped as a Ganger version of her husband stepped into the light and added while adjusting his bow tie, "Trust me. I'm the Doctor. Hello, my love."


	10. The Almost People

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for the long delay on this chapter. I got the worst case of writer's block over it. But now that I'm past this episode, my brain is on fire! I promise that the next one won't be too far away.

Chapter 10 - The Almost People

 

 

Everyone in the room watched in confusion as the Ganger Doctor suddenly convulsed in pain and Rose grabbed her head as she felt his suffering as well.

 

“Ah! What's happening? I wonder if we'll get back. Yes, one day,” he rambled, his voice changing occasionally to sound like one of his previous regenerations. “I've reversed the polarity of the neutron flow. Would you like a jelly baby?”

 

“The Flesh is struggling to cope with our past regenerations. Hold on. Rose, what's the matter, love?” the Doctor explained.

 

“I can feel it. All of it, oh Doctor!” Rose moaned. Her eyes were clenched shut as she leaned heavily on the Doctor next to her.

 

“Why? Why? Why?” the Ganger Doctor questioned.

 

“Why what?” the other Doctor asked, struggling to keep his wife upright.

 

“Hello, I'm the Doctor. No, let it go, we've moved on,” the Ganger Doctor continued as if he couldn't hear anything else. “Need to control it. Can't keep hurting Rose,” he insisted through clenched teeth.

 

“Hold on, you can stabilize,” the Doctor assured him.

 

“Jelly baby... No! Adric!” Rose shouted in agony.

 

“I've reversed the jelly baby of the neutron flow. Would you like a Doctor? Doctor, I'm... I'm the... I can't,” the Ganger Doctor stuttered.

 

“Rose? Doctor? Listen, hold on, hold on. Come here,” the Doctor insisted and pulled the other next to Rose so that he might be able to help them both telepathically.

 

He could hear Amy and the others trying to get his attention on the other side of the room. Something about the other Gangers that were trying to break through the door, but he couldn't focus on that at the moment. The Ganger Doctor seemed to calm down after a moment and settled into the appearance of the Doctor properly. Both of them grasped Rose's upper arms to steady her as the telepathic onslaught faded away.

 

“Are you alright, love? I'm so sorry about that,” the Ganger Doctor asked, his eyes pleading for her forgiveness.

 

“Yeah, I'm alright. I can feel both of you!” Rose gasped as she looked back and forth between them.

 

“Well, I suppose that's proof enough that he's me. I didn't think it would copy down to the detail of our bond, that's interesting,” the Doctor commented.

 

“What you mean you can feel him?” Buzzer questioned.

 

“His race is telepathic and he's my husband. We have a connection, up here,” she told him as she tapped her temple. “And now, I can feel both of them, exactly the same.”

 

“That has potential,” the Ganger Doctor flirted with Rose. She hummed her agreement and the other Doctor looked mortified between them.

 

“Do we have time for this?” the Doctor asked.

 

“No! We don't,” Amy insisted, gesturing toward the door that was apparently being melted with acid and battered upon by the Gangers on the other side.

 

“Right, so, what's the plan?” the Ganger Doctor asked when he finally pulled his gaze away from Rose.

 

“Save them all, humans and Gangers,” the Doctor replied.

 

“Tall order. Sounds wonderful,” the Ganger Doctor beamed.

 

“Is that what you were thinking? It's just so inspiring to hear me say it,” the Doctor gushed happily.

 

“I know,” the other responded.

 

“Tell you what I'm thinking,” Rose interrupted and sent them both a rather illicit mental image involving herself with both of them together and both of their faces went slack for a moment.

 

“That's enough, you three! Come on!” Amy chastised.

 

“Breathe!” the two Doctors told Amy together.

 

“What?” Amy asked.

 

“We have to get you off this island, and the Gangers too,” the Doctor told everyone.

 

“Sorry, would you like a memo from the last meeting? They are trying to kill us!” Cleaves argued.

 

“They're scared after you killed one of them. How would YOU react? Oh, just like the other one because she's the same as you,” Rose insisted.

 

“Doctor, we're trapped in here,” Amy interrupted, bringing their attention back to the most pressing matter at hand.

 

“Right, see, I don't think so. The Flesh Bowl is fed by cabling from above,” the Doctor responded.

 

“But where are the earthing conduits?” the Ganger Doctor added.

 

“All this piping must go down into a tunnel or a shaft or something, yes? With us?” the Doctor continued and pulled a section of metal grating off of the wall. It seemed large enough for them to fit through one at a time. “Yowza. An escape route,” he added.

 

“Yowza? Really?” Rose questioned, wrinkling her nose.

 

The two Doctors argued a bit over which words were cool or not and which of them would get to be below Rose as she was descending. The Doctor was the last to enter to shaft that led downward since he needed to sonic the grating shut behind them just as the Gangers managed to break into the chapel.

 

When they reached the bottom, they found that the acid was dissolving the stones of the building and creating a dangerous gas. Cleaves led them up to the evacuation tower so that they could get above it as well as try to restore power and contact the mainland.

 

The Doctors got to work immediately, one of them borrowing Rose's sonic so that they could work faster.

 

“Can you really get the power back?” Cleaves questioned doubtfully.

 

“Of course they can,” Rose replied confidently and both of them popped up from behind the console.

 

“Never doubting us, that's our Rose,” one of them beamed. It was impossible to tell which was which now.

 

“There's always some power floating around,” the other told Cleaves.

 

“Sticking to the wires, like bits of lint,” he concluded.

 

“Can you two stop finishing each other's...” Amy began.

 

“Sentences? No probs,” the Doctor interrupted with a smile.

 

“No, hang on. You said that the TARDIS was stuck in acid, so won't she be damaged?” Amy asked worriedly.

 

“Oh, she's a tough old girl. Don't worry Amy, if anything happens to her, it would hurt me as well. If they aren't worried, then I'm sure she'll be just fine,” Rose assured her.

 

“Tough, old, Sexy,” one of the Doctors agreed.

 

“Tough, dependable, Sexy,” the other added.

 

“And the gift that she's given us with her connection to Rose,” the first said, staring at his wife like she was a goddess.

 

“Come on, ok. How can you both be real?” Amy demanded.

 

“Well, because we are. I'm the Doctor,” one of them told her.

 

“Yeah, and so am I. We both contain the knowledge of over nine hundred years of memory and experience,” the other added.

 

“We both wear the same bow tie, which is cool,” the first insisted as he adjusted said bow tie.

 

“Because bow ties are...”

 

“And always will be.”

 

“But how did the Flesh read you? Because you weren't linked up to it,” Amy argued.

 

“Amy, don't you remember? When he was scanning it, he said that it reached out to him, like it was scanning him as well,” Rose reminded her.

 

“Exactly, and a new, genuine Doctor was created,” the Doctor concluded.

 

“Ta-da!” the other added as he held out his arms dramatically.

 

“No getting away from it. One of you was here first,” Amy insisted.

 

“Listen, Amy. It doesn't matter. You know that I have a telepathic link with my husband. I can feel both of those men equally. And their minds feel exactly the same to me. One isn't stronger or weaker or more or less real. What is it that makes us who we are other than our minds?” Rose told her emphatically as she moved to take a hand of each of the Doctors.

 

“You're brilliant, my love,” the Doctor told Rose as he nuzzled her cheek with his nose.

 

“Absolutely, spectacularly brilliant, my shining star,” the other agreed and did the same on the other side.

 

“Ooh, I like that! We did say that we were going to think up a pet name for you after all that business with Sexy, didn't we? And now we've got two minds on the job. Two heads are better than one, after all,” the Doctor rambled as the two of them got back to work on restoring power to the computer systems.

 

The computer screens all sprang to life suddenly and one of the Doctor's shouted, “Yes! Communication a go-go.”

 

Cleaves ran to the main computer station and started scanning for the other humans.

 

“Find Rory! Show me the scanning tracking screen. Come on, Rory, let's be having you,” Amy demanded, looking over the woman's shoulder.

 

“There's no sign of him anywhere,” Cleaves told her.

 

“Come on. Come on, baby, show yourself,” Amy mumbled as she continued staring at the scanner screen.

 

Cleaves was flicking switches as she began to activate the radio that would contact the mainland. She almost had it up and running when one of the Doctor's cried out suddenly and grasped his head.

 

“What is it, Doctor? What's wrong?” Rose asked him worriedly.

 

“I can feel them. Why? Why? It's all the eyes say. I can feel them as they work each day, knowing the time was coming for them to be thrown away again. Not again, please! And then they are destroyed and they feel death. All they can say is, why?” the Ganger Doctor moaned in despair.

 

“Oh my god! They remember dying. Every single time, they remember being tossed aside like garbage,” Rose cried and hugged the newest version of her husband.

 

“You're connected to the Flesh,” the other Doctor realized.

 

“He _is_ Flesh, Doctor,” Amy responded impatiently.

 

“Can we use that connection? Could we contact them or something?” Rose wondered, looking up at the other Doctor.

 

“Perhaps. Telepathically, they would not only hear the words, but also feel our intentions. They would realize that we truly mean them no harm, they would feel it,” the Doctor suggested.

 

“I'm not here to set up a tea party with the enemy. I'm contacting the mainland,” Cleaves argued.

 

“And I'm not here to start a war!” the Doctor shouted and quickly moved to pull one of the wires from the back of the computer station, effectively silencing the radio again.

 

“What the hell are you doing?” Jimmy shouted angrily.

 

“Saving everyone on this island,” he replied and returned to the side of the Ganger Doctor and Rose.

 

“I think, if the three of us work together, we can contact them. Direct them to where the TARDIS should come through into the tunnels. If we all meet up there, we can get out of here safely,” the Ganger Doctor planned.

 

“Sounds good to me, love. Now, what about Rory and Jennifer? They won't hear this little conference call and we need to get them out of here too,” Rose prompted.

 

“If we can get them all on board with this plan, they might help us find them on the way. If not, we might be able to use the TARDIS scanners more effectively to search for them once we get there,” the other Doctor suggested.

 

“Alright, let's get on with this then, before anyone else gets hurt,” the Ganger Doctor insisted and the three of them touched each other's temples as they tried to reach the Gangers telepathically.

 

In the honesty of mental contact, they managed to convince almost all of the other Gangers to join them peacefully in the tunnels. They could tell though that Jennifer's Ganger was not so happy with the plan. They were sure that she would try to cause trouble for them, but went ahead with the plan anyway and would deal with that as it came.

 

The group was extremely careful as they made their way down to the tunnel where the Doctor had calculated that the TARDIS would fall through from the ground above. The Gangers met them there, anxious to get away from the painful memories of their repeated deaths in this place.

 

“Amy!” Rory shouted suddenly and they all turned to see Jennifer's Ganger holding him threateningly around the neck. Her face had the white and slightly misshapen look of the gangers while they were forming.

 

“Leaving so soon?” she asked with a frightening grin.

 

“Rory!” Amy cried.

 

“This factory is going to explode. I'll take all of you with me,” she told them.

 

“Where's Jennifer?” the Doctor asked her.

 

“I am Jennifer,” she replied angrily.

 

“Yes, Jennifer, we know that. But where is the other Jennifer?” the Ganger Doctor responded.

 

“I killed her. We don't need the humans. We can live on our own. Take revenge on humanity for their torture of us. I can connect to the rest of the Flesh on the planet, just like you contacted us. Even if I don't survive this, they will know and they'll rise up against them,” Ganger Jennifer insisted confidently.

 

“You don't have to do this, Jennifer. Just let Rory go. You can come with us and we can work things out to help everyone,” the Ganger Doctor explained as he approached her with his hands raised.

 

“I am stronger now. We are stronger than them. We don't need the humans to survive,” she argued and squeezed Rory's throat more tightly.

 

Feeling that time was running short before her threatened explosion would take out the whole building, the Ganger Doctor withdrew Rose's sonic from his pocket quickly and used the setting that he hoped would disrupt the Flesh temporarily. Ganger Jennifer flinched as her arm reverted to liquid for a moment and Rory wrestled himself free of her and ran toward the TARDIS. Amy caught him in her arms and they all backed toward the time ship.

 

Jennifer lunged at the Ganger Doctor and knocked Rose's sonic from his arms as she wrapped rubbery, stretching arms around him in a vice-like grip.

 

“Doctor!” Rose cried tearfully as she saw what she knew would end up with sacrifice.

 

“You all need to leave now, before this place explodes,” he shouted back to them.

 

“I can't leave you,” Rose sobbed, but was held back by the original Doctor who looked sadly at his counterpart.

 

“You have to, love. You've still got me, right there,” he insisted with a nod to the Doctor holding her tightly.

 

“You'll not get away!” Jennifer shouted and began to run toward the ship at lightning speed. It was clear that she meant to keep them all from escaping before the explosion, but the Doctor pushed everyone through the doors and shut them tightly before she could reach them.

 

The Doctor flew the TARDIS back to the mainland and left the humans and gangers at company headquarters where things would be explained, debated, and agreements could be reached.

 

When the Doctor, Rose, Amy and Rory returned to the TARDIS, Rose sat on the jump seat and cried quietly. Amy sat next to her sympathetically and asked, “Are you ok?”

 

Rose nodded quietly. Amy suddenly clutched at her stomach and gasped.

 

“I said breathe, Pond. Remember? Well, breathe!” the Doctor told her.

 

“Why?” she asked and doubled over in pain.

 

“Whoa!” Rory shouted and ran to her side supportively. “What's wrong with her?”

 

“Contractions. It'll be alright, Amy. Just keep breathing, yeah?” Rose replied.

 

“Contractions?” Rory asked, disbelieving.

 

“She's going into labour,” the Doctor responded simply.

 

“Did he say? No. No, no. Of course he didn't. Rory, I don't like this. Ow!” Amy gasped.

 

“It's true, Amy, just please try to breathe deeply, it'll help with the pain,” Rose insisted. It was a long time ago that she had gone through labour, but she did it without any drugs and knew that Amy was strong enough to get through this.

 

“You're going to have to start explaining some of this to me, Doctor,” Rory demanded.

 

“What, the birds and the bees? She's having a baby. I needed to see the Flesh in its early days. That's why I scanned it. That's why we were here in the first place. We were going to drop you off for fish and chips first, but things happened and there was stuff and shenanigans. Beautiful word, shenanigans,” the Doctor rambled.

 

“It hurts,” Amy groaned.

 

“I know, sweetheart, but you can do this. Just keep breathing,” Rose told her and modelled the panting breaths that helped her the most during painful contractions.

 

“I needed enough information to block the signal to the Flesh,” the Doctor explained.

 

“What signal?” Amy shouted.

 

“The signal to you,” he told her.

 

“Doctor? Doctor!” Amy protested as he raised his sonic screwdriver in her direction.

 

“Stand away from her Rose, Rory,” he instructed.

 

Rose moved, but Rory tried to actually get in front of her. “Why? No and why?” he questioned.

 

“Given what we've learned, I'll be as humane as I can, but I need to do this and you need to stand away!” the Doctor insisted and Rose pulled Rory aside as they all looked at Amy. She was shaking terribly and tears were running down her cheeks.

 

“No. No, Doctor, Rose, I'm frightened. I'm properly, properly scared,” Amy sobbed, reaching toward them.

 

“Oh, Amy. We'll find you,” Rose assured her.

 

“Don't be scared. Hold on. We're coming for you. I swear it. Whatever happens, however hard, however far, we will find you,” the Doctor told her.

 

“I'm right here,” Amy insisted.

 

“No, you're not. You haven't been for a long, long time,” he informed her and buzzed his sonic in her direction. She immediately dissolved into white liquid on the floor of the TARDIS and Rory fell to his knees in agony.

 

Rose pulled out her mobile and called her son. “Jamie, we're going to need your help.”


	11. A Good Man Goes to War: Part One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Given the long wait for the last chapter, I figured I should post this one right away now that my muse is back. I've been just itching to get to this part of the story ever since I started this series! Please review!!!!!

Chapter 11 – A Good Man Goes to War

 

 

James had picked up River for a very special outing. Having accepted their relationship some time ago, he openly admitted that these were dates. It was her birthday and he wanted this one to be special. So he brought her to the Frost Fair in 1814. Ice skating on the River Thames would definitely be romantic.

 

They were both dressed in appropriate clothing as he helped her lace her ice skates and they held tightly to each other the entire evening. When both of their noses were flushed pink from the cold, James decided that it was time for a little break.

 

“How about some hot chocolate, my love?” James asked her sweetly.

 

“That sounds wonderful, James. You spoil me sometimes,” she replied.

 

Changing back into their shoes, they sat together under a blanket to warm up.

 

“I didn't even ask you today. When are you? What was the last thing we did together?” James wondered.

 

“Mmm, America. You?” she wondered.

 

“Ooh, well, I've done America as well. Since then, I've spent some time at Torchwood. I didn't want my parents hounding me about all of it until I didn't have to hide so much from them. I don't know how you manage it so well, River,” he told her.

 

“Not long now for you,” she assured him and kissed him lightly on the lips. He hummed happily at the gesture and hugged her closer.

 

They were pulled from their happy moment by the sound of James' phone ringing. After a quick glance around to see who might spot the technology, James held the phone up to his ear discreetly between them. “Mum? What's the matter?”

 

“Jamie, we're going to need your help,” she told him urgently.

 

“What happened?” he asked, frightened by her tone.

 

“It's Amy. We didn't know, god how did we not know? Some time before America, she was kidnapped and switched with a duplicate. We have to find her Jamie, she's having a baby!” Rose cried frantically over the mobile.

 

“Calm down, mum! I'll be there in no time, I'll lock my vortex manipulator onto the TARDIS right now. It'll be alright, I promise,” James assured her.

 

“See you soon, sweetheart,” she replied, her voice trembling as she disconnected.

 

“I'm sorry I can't see you home, love,” he told River.

 

“Don't be. This is important. I'll join you later,” she answered and the look in her eyes said that she knew exactly where he was headed.

 

“This is it, isn't it?” he questioned as he searched her face for answers.

 

“It's a big one. Your parents and mine will get most of their answers after this is over,” she admitted sadly. “Go help them find Amy. I'll give you the time coordinates for Leadworth when it's over.”

 

“I love you, River,” he whispered in her ear and kissed her thoroughly before locking onto the TARDIS and disappearing in a flash of light.

 

River let a tear fall from her face before setting her own vortex manipulator for Stormcage. She needed to collect herself and get changed before she could meet them at Demon's Run.

 

\--'-{@ @}-'--

 

After calling Jamie, Rose joined the Doctor at the controls. “Where are we heading first?” she asked, wiping a tear from her face.

 

“Once Jamie gets here, we're going to Torchwood for reinforcements. But before we do that, are you alright, love? I'm sure it hurt you when the other bond was severed,” he questioned.

 

“It did, but not as badly as I thought it would. I'll be alright. You're here, our brilliant time ship is here and Jamie will be here soon. We need to focus on finding Amy right now,” she assured him.

 

“Right you are, love,” he agreed and kissed her quickly before jumping back to the keyboard and starting a few programs to search for their stolen companion.

 

James appeared in the console room, still dressed for the Frost Fair, in a smart wool suit and top hat. He immediately noticed Rory sitting on the floor next to where Amy had disappeared. “Rory! Are you alright?”

 

“No. She's gone. We're having a baby and my wife is gone,” he sobbed.

 

“We'll find her, Rory. I swear to you on my life that we will find Amy and your baby,” James insisted as he held Rory's shoulders firmly and looked him straight in the eyes.

 

Rory nodded and pulled himself together, allowing his anger and determination to push him into action.

 

“Oh, Jamie!” Rose cried and ran to hug her son. She had missed him being on board, but there wasn't time for a proper reunion.

 

“Hello, mum. Just let me go get changed and we can get to work. What's the plan, dad?” he called to his father who was still working at the console.

 

“We're picking up some friends and then, we're going to find Amelia Pond,” the Doctor called back and began the flight sequence that would take them to Torchwood.

 

In no time at all, the console room was filled with their closest friends and family, anxious to help. Jack, Pete, and Mickey joined them from Torchwood and were working on the computers with them to find a trace of where Amy might have been taken.

 

James had changed into dark jeans, a button down shirt and a brown leather jacket. His fingers moved over the keyboard at a furious pace, his jaw clenched as he searched for his infant wife and her mother in all of time and space. It made sense that they would likely stay in the Milky Way. Without a TARDIS, travelling to another galaxy would take too much time and energy. He knew that River would still end up imprisoned with these criminals as a child, but he didn't know the details leading up to that. For now, they just needed to find them.

 

“I've got something, dad!” he shouted triumphantly.

 

“What is it?” Jack asked, looking over his shoulder.

 

“The Twelfth Cyberlegion has a ship monitoring this quadrant here,” he told them as he pointed at a map. “I intercepted a message between their ships that spoke of a secret base with humans. I think we'd best find out what they know about it.”

 

“Good work, Jamie. But how do you expect to get them to talk?” the Doctor questioned.

 

James exchanged a look with Rory. “I think we've got a pretty good idea,” James replied.

 

Making use of his vortex manipulator to plant explosives on all of the Cyberships, James returned to the TARDIS to pilot them to the last one. Rory had donned his battle armour from his time in ancient Rome and the two of them left the others on the TARDIS as they went out to face the Cybermen.

 

“I am James Tyler, son of the Doctor and the Bad Wolf, and I have a message to deliver,” he announced loudly.

 

“And I'm Rory Williams, the Last Centurion, and I have a question,” Rory added. “Where is my wife?”

 

They glared at the metal men as they waited for a response, but received none.

 

“Don't you dare pretend that you don't know. The Twelfth Cyberlegion monitors this entire quadrant. You hear everything,” James shouted angrily.

 

“So, you tell us what we need to know. Tell us now, and we'll be on our way,” Rory insisted.

 

“What is this message?” the Cyberleader asked, knowing that anything involving the Doctor was likely quite dangerous for them.

 

In his pocket, James pressed the button that would destroy all of the ships, except the one that they were on. The Cybermen all turned to look at the destruction out of the windows nearby.

 

“Would you like me to repeat the question?” Rory said with a knowing smirk.

 

After obtaining the needed coordinates, James and Rory returned to the TARDIS. The Doctor flew the ship away from the Cybermen as soon as the doors were closed and he looked at his son worriedly. Yes, they all wanted to find Amy and the baby quickly, but he had never seen Jamie behave with so much vengeance. James pressed one more button and everyone around the console looked up at him in shock when the sensors showed the final Cybership exploding as well.

 

“What? I've got your coordinates. Let's go save Amy,” James snapped at them as he moved to enter the information into the computer.

 

“We have a couple more people to pick up considering the number that we'll be up against. Could you contact the Shadow Proclamation, love? I think a good number of Judoon ought to be helpful, don't you?” the Doctor instructed.

 

They picked up a Silurian with her human wife and she directed them to collect a small army of Silurian warriors. They also collected a Sontaran who apparently owed the Doctor a favour. Rose called the Shadow Proclamation and a platoon of Judoon were prepared to raid the base as soon as they gave the signal. 

 

When the Doctor asked about fetching River to help, James simply told them that she would be meeting them there as soon as she could. James knew that she couldn't risk being recaptured by these monsters. They were not only the ones who had captured Amy, they were the same people that had tortured River as a child and forced her to shoot his father on that beach with some sort of robotic space suit. 

 

The Doctor outlined their plan and everyone took their places as they began the battle to take over the base. It was guarded by the same type of religious soldiers that they had met at the crash of the Byzantium so long ago, as well as the Headless Monks. But with all of their reinforcements, the battle was won without a single drop of blood being spilled.

 

Rory and James stopped Madam Kovarian from escaping with the baby and James escorted her to the command office while Rory brought the baby back to where Amy was being held.

 

“You know, I could kill you right now,” James growled as he led the evil woman towards where his parents were waiting.

 

“It wouldn't do any good,” she replied confidently.

 

“Why are you doing this? What has my family ever done to you?” he demanded.

 

“Your parents are the most dangerous creatures in the universe,” Kovarian replied.

 

James grabbed her by the throat and pushed her harshly against the wall. “I know the fate of that precious little girl and I know that it is all  _ your fault! _ So let me tell you something right now. At this moment in time, I am the most dangerous creature in your universe!”

 

The woman's face was turning purple when Jack ran to James' side and pulled him off of her. James continued to glare at her even as Jack held them apart. She rubbed her throat and coughed as airflow and circulation was restored.

 

“Jamie, what the hell is all that about?” Jack demanded, not letting go of Kovarian.

 

“I can't tell you, Uncle Jack. Let's just get this bitch to my parents and be done with it,” James told him angrily. It would probably damage the timelines if he had killed the woman, but with how big the whole operation seemed to be, he doubted that would have prevented the torture of River's childhood anyway.

 

When they arrived in the control room, the Doctor, Rose, the Sontaran named Strax, and Kovarian's associate, Colonel Manton, were already there. Jack tossed Kovarian into the seat next to the colonel and stood by the door with his arms crossed over his chest. James tried to keep control of himself by pacing the room like a caged animal.

 

Strax stood at attention as he reported, “All airlocks sealed. Resistance neutralized.”

 

“Sorry, Colonel Manton, I lied. Three minutes, forty two seconds,” the Doctor said cockily as he sat with his feet up on the desk in front of him.

 

“Colonel Manton, you will give the order for your men to withdraw,” Strax ordered formally.

 

“No. Colonel Manton, I want you to tell your men to run away,” the Doctor interrupted.

 

“You what?” Manton questioned, clearly confused by the command.

 

“Those words. Run away. I want you to be famous for those exact words. I want people to call you Colonel Run Away. I want children laughing outside your door, because they've found the house of Colonel Run Away,” the Doctor taunted him.

 

“Under article 794, subsection 17 of the Shadow Proclamation, I demand that every single officer and soldier be taken into custody by the Judoon and prosecuted for kidnapping and the attempted destruction of an endangered race, namely my own,” James shouted angrily, interrupting his father's demands.

 

“What?” the Doctor gasped.

 

“They kidnapped Amy, held her here for nine months against her will, did who knows what to that poor little baby, and tried to kill all of us, dad. I will not have them all scurrying off into who knows where when the authorities are already here,” James insisted.

 

“I will pass along that information to the Judoon commander,” Strax responded and left the room.

 

“Why, Jamie? They're safe now, we've won,” the Doctor questioned.

 

“Are they? Are they really?” James asked, his arms crossed over his chest as he glared at Madam Kovarian. She smirked, knowing his statement meant that she would be successful in keeping the infant from them for some time.

 

“You know something. Something you're not telling me. You've been far too angry about all of this for it to just be about Amy's abduction,” the Doctor accused.

 

“I'm not saying anything about it while that woman is here,” he responded. River had told him that his parents would find out most of it today. Perhaps they learned some of it from him.

 

One of the Judoon officers arrived to take Manton and Kovarian away with the rest of the captured soldiers. The Doctor and James looked at one another angrily for a moment, though nothing was said aloud or telepathically.

 

“Let's go check on Amy and that baby, yeah?” Rose suggested, pulling them back into the real world.

 

“Yeah,” the Doctor agreed and took his wife's arm.

 

The Doctor, Rose, and James arrived at the large white room after a brief and silent walk. Inside, Rory and Amy were both crying as they kissed over the squirming baby.

 

“Urgh. Kissing and crying. We'll be back in a bit,” the Doctor grumbled and turned away but was pulled back into the room by his wife.

 

“Oi! You, get in here!” Amy shouted. “My daughter. What do you think?” she asked as they all looked over the little one.

 

“She's beautiful! Can I hold her?” Rose told her with a beaming smile. Amy handed her gently over and the Doctor looked at her carefully.

 

“Hello. Hello, baby,” the Doctor greeted awkwardly.

 

“Melody,” Amy informed them.

 

“Melody? Hello, Melody Pond,” the Doctor corrected his greeting.

 

“Melody Williams,” Rory insisted.

 

“Is a geography teacher. Melody Pond is a superhero,” Amy told him and kissed her daughter's forehead.

 

James realized then, just where the name River Song came from. Reverse the two names and find synonyms and there it was. He sent a mental caress to his infant wife and held his finger out for her little hand to grasp. “Hello, love,” he whispered softly.

 

“Oh Amelia, come here,” the Doctor said and embraced her in a friendly hug. “Sorry we were so long.”

 

“It's ok, I knew you were coming. All of you,” Amy assured them.

 

Baby Melody started to cry when James pulled his finger away from her so that Amy could take her back.

 

“It's alright, I'm not leaving. Yes, I know, but you really should call her mummy, not big milk thing,” James told little Melody.

 

“Ok, Jamie, what are you doing?” Amy asked, annoyed by his joke.

 

“We speak baby,” James replied.

 

“No, you don't,” she countered.

 

“Actually, yes, we do. We speak everything, don't we, Melody Pond?” the Doctor interjected. The baby gurgled and the Doctor grasped his bow tie. “No, it's not. It's cool!”

 

They all laughed at that and they all went back to the TARDIS.

 


	12. A Good Man Goes to War: Part Two

Chapter 12 – A Good Man Goes to War: Part 2

 

 

James was still pacing nervously by the TARDIS, knowing that Kovarian had been far too complacent for all of the trouble that they'd gone through for this to really be over. But everyone else was happy and celebrating, so there wasn't much else that he could do.

 

Amy rushed out of the TARDIS, carrying a crying baby Melody.

 

“Hey, what's wrong?” Rory asked her.

 

“She doesn't like the TARDIS noise. I asked him to turn something off, but it was all, 'but I don't want to punch a hole in the space-time continuum,'” she grumbled.

 

“That's not the problem, Amy,” James called to her, but she ignored him.

 

“Rory, James! The Judoon have arrested all of the Clerics in the quadrant, Jack and Pete are escorting the Silurians back home, and the entire base has been cleared,” Jenny told them. She was the wife of the Silurian named Vastra that had helped them. They had been living in Victorian London and working to solve crimes in the area. “Is she alright?” she asked, looking at the crying baby in concern.

 

“Yes, she's just crying,” Amy replied and bounced the upset child around soothingly.

 

“Give her to me, human fool. She needs changing,” Strax demanded.

 

“I just changed her. I think she might need a feed,” Amy told him.

 

“A feed, of course. I'll take care of everything,” Strax insisted, again reaching for the infant.

 

“Er, I really don't think you will, actually,” Rory protested, not liking the idea of this alien seeing his wife's breasts.

 

“I have gene-spliced myself for all nursing duties. I can produce magnificent quantities of lactic fluid,” Strax informed them proudly.

 

“Oh, knock it off, all of you!” James interrupted. “She's sleepy. Aren't you, sweetheart?”

 

“Here we are!” the Doctor announced as he exited the TARDIS carrying a blue, wooden cot. 

 

“What's this?” Amy asked him.

 

“Very pretty, according to your daughter,” the Doctor cooed at Melody.

 

“It's a... it's a cot,” Rory stuttered.

 

“Of course it's a cot. Give her here, Amy,” James said and rolled his eyes. She handed the infant to him and he rocked her gently before placing her in the little bed. He spun the mobile of gold stars and planets over her as he sang a lullabye to her quietly.

 

Vastra called to them over the PA system, “Doctor, we need you in the main control room.”

 

“Be right there!” he shouted loudly. “Things to do. We've still got to work out what this base is for. We can't leave until we know,” he added in explanation to the others.

 

“But this is where I was? The whole time I thought I was on the TARDIS, I was really here?” Amy asked.

 

“Oh, Amy,” Rose sighed and hugged her tightly. “Remember what I said about the other Doctor. Your thoughts and memories define who you are. Your mind was with us, which means that you were with us too.”

 

“Your heart, your mind, your soul, were with us on the TARDIS. But physically, yes, you were still in this place,” the Doctor added.

 

“And when I saw that face looking through the hatch, that woman looking at me?” Amy asked.

 

“Reality bleeding through. They must have taken you quite a while back. Just before America,” the Doctor explained.

 

“So, her Flesh avatar was with us all that time. But that means they were projecting a control signal right into the TARDIS, wherever we were in time and space,” Rory realized.

 

“Yeah, they're very clever,” the Doctor agreed.

 

“Who are?” Amy wondered.

 

“Whoever wants our baby,” Rory told her.

 

“But why do they want her?” Amy questioned.

 

“Exactly,” the Doctor said with a look at James.

 

“Time for a chat, dad?” James suggested and they walked together back to the control room.

 

When they arrived in the control room, they found Mickey typing on the computer system. The screens displayed all of the files regarding baby Melody.

 

“You've hacked into the system?” James asked and looked at the various tests they had done on her.

 

“Easy peasy,” Mickey replied. “Some weird stuff in here though.”

 

“What do you mean?” the Doctor questioned.

 

“One simple question, is Melody human?” Vastra asked him.

 

“Sorry, what? Of course she is. Completely human, what are you talking about?” the Doctor stuttered.

 

“Not exactly, dad. I need to see how they did it,” James told him and began digging further into their databanks.

 

“How they did what?” the Doctor asked him. “She's human. She's Amy and Rory's daughter.”

 

“Trust me, dad, she's more than human,” James replied.

 

“You've told me about your people. They became what they did through prolonged exposure to the time vortex. The Untempered Schism,” Vastra insisted.

 

“Over billions of years. It didn't just happen,” the Doctor protested.

 

“So how about him then? 'Cause he should be half human, but he seems to be about as alien as you are,” Mickey wondered.

 

“Time Lord TNA is dominant. Any child of a Time Lord will be completely Time Lord. But I didn't... do THAT with Amy! What are you suggesting?!” he explained, completely flustered.

 

“That's not it, dad. Do we know when she was conceived?” James asked pointedly.

 

“How would I know? It's not like we talk about those things on the TARDIS. The rooms are very far apart for a reason, you know!” the Doctor protested.

 

“Ok, but knowing how much they're on board the TARDIS, it's likely that she might have been conceived while the ship was floating in the vortex,” James deduced.

 

“But you can't just cook yourself a Time Lord!” he argued.

 

“Of course not, but you gave them one hell of a start, and they've been working very hard ever since,” Vastra told him.

 

“Can she regenerate?” Mickey asked.

 

“No, she would have to look into the vortex, if it would even work,” the Doctor responded confidently.

 

“She has,” James told him quietly.

 

“What?” his father asked.

 

“Could the rest of you go back to the TARDIS, please? I need to talk to my dad for a minute,” James asked.

 

Mickey and Vastra left to join the others back at the time ship. The Doctor and his son gazed at each other for a long moment.

 

“Care to explain?” the Doctor prompted.

 

“I know who the baby is. She isn't safe, but there isn't anything else that we can do for her right now,” James said with an exhausted sigh.

 

“You said she can regenerate, how do you know this?” he asked.

 

“Because I took her to the room in the TARDIS and I saw her regenerate. She was the little girl in America, dad. When I left the orphanage, I got her out of there and took her someplace safe,” James explained.

 

“But she's here!” the Doctor protested.

 

The screen in front of them suddenly sprang to life with the image of Madam Kovarian. “I see you've accessed our files. Do you understand yet? Oh, don't worry, I'm a long way away and not with the Judoon either. But I like to keep tabs on you. The child, then. What do you think?” she taunted them.

 

“I'll ask you again, why are you doing this?!” James shouted at her angrily.

 

“She is Hope in this endless, bitter war,” she snarled.

 

“What war? Against who?” the Doctor asked.

 

“Against you, Doctor,” she replied.

 

“A child is not a weapon!” the Doctor protested.

 

“Oh, give us time. She can be. She will be, won't she Jamie?” she smirked.

 

“Shut up! Just shut up!” James cried, angry tears leaking from his eyes.

 

“Except you've already lost her, and I swear I will never let you anywhere near her again!” the Doctor argued, placing a supportive hand on his son's shoulder.

 

“Oh, Doctor. Fooling you once was a joy, but fooling you twice, the same way? It's a privilege,” Kovarian gloated and closed the communication.

 

“Oh my god!” James shouted and ran to the door, only to find it locked.

 

“ _Get back here, please! We're under attack from the Headless Monks!”_ Rose called to them telepathically.

 

“Get it open!” the Doctor insisted as they both fumbled with their sonics to decrypt the code on the lock.

 

“I'm trying! Oh, my love,” he sobbed.

 

“What?” the Doctor gasped, still not grasping why his son was so enthralled with this little girl that he had rescued from the Silence as a child.

 

“ _Mum, the baby isn't real. She's a Flesh avatar, just like Amy was. They've still got baby Melody,”_ James told her frantically as they finally got the lock open and ran towards the others.

 

When they finally made it back to the TARDIS, Rose was comforting Amy, who was covered in the white liquid from the Flesh avatar that had been her baby. The Doctor and James knelt next to her.

 

“Oh, Amy, I'm so sorry,” the Doctor sighed.

 

“I promise you, that she will be alright,” James told her.

 

“What are you hiding, Jamie? You know something. You knew something all along, but you never told us anything. You never stopped it before it all went to hell!” Amy accused him.

 

James looked at her with tears filling his eyes. He had wanted nothing more than to change it, to keep River from her tortured childhood, but he couldn't.

 

“Jamie, there's someone who wants to speak to you,” Vastra called, interrupting their argument temporarily. “Her name is Lorna. She came to warn us,” the Silurian explained as she led him to where the young woman was dying in Mickey's arms.

 

“Hello, Lorna,” James greeted her.

 

“Jamie Tyler,” she gasped breathily.

 

“Thank you for helping my family today,” he said sincerely.

 

“I met you once, in the Gamma Forests, with your uncle,” she admitted.

 

“Oh, I was so young then. Pirates, wasn't it?” he asked. She nodded in confirmation. “I remember. You were young then too. And we ran, didn't we, Lorna?”

 

She nodded silently and her eyes clenched shut a moment before her body went limp.

 

“Who was she?” the Doctor asked behind him.

 

“A girl that Uncle Jack and I helped a long time ago,” he replied sadly.

 

“So, what now? They'd almost certainly have taken her to Earth. Raise her in the correct environment,” Vastra suggested.

 

“Yes, they did. And it's already too late,” the Doctor responded sadly.

 

“You're giving up?” Rose questioned disbelievingly.

 

“No, mum, that's not what he means,” James told her. 

 

A flash of light told them that someone had arrived via vortex manipulator and they all turned, expecting to see Jack or Pete returning. Who they saw instead was River Song.

 

“Oh, River,” James cried and ran into her arms, hugging her tightly and sobbing into her shoulder.

 

“Where the hell were you today? Jamie said you'd meet us here, it's not like you couldn't have set your coordinates a little earlier,” the Doctor shouted.

 

“I couldn't have prevented this,” River told him.

 

“With all of your knowledge about our future? I know we can't cause paradoxes, but this is horrible!” Rose argued.

 

“She couldn't change any of this, mum, and neither could I. I'm so sorry, Amy. You have no idea how much I wanted to change all of this. More than anything I've ever wanted to change in my entire life, I wanted to prevent this, but I couldn't do it,” James raged until River pulled him in close again and rubbed his back soothingly.

 

“Who are you, River Song?” the Doctor questioned, already having a clue based on James' behaviour.

 

River looked nervously between the Doctor, Rose and her parents. James squeezed her tighter in support, encouraging her telepathically as best he could with their partial bond.

 

“I'm Melody. I'm your daughter,” she added looking at her parents lovingly. They still didn't know it all, but they would know very soon. “This is for you, love. Come find me,” she whispered to James as she handed him a slip of paper with time and place coordinates in Leadworth. She had promised that she would guide him to the right place to pick her up and she was fulfilling that promise.

 

“I'm on my way,” he replied and held her face in his hands as he kissed her, then ran into the TARDIS.

 


	13. Let's Kill Hitler

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: My muse is on a roll with this now!! I really hope that you like the changes that I make to this part of the story! Please review so I know that you like it. This story has received far less feedback than my other stories, so I hope I haven't lost too many people along the way in the series.

Chapter 13 – Let's Kill Hitler

 

 

The instructions that River had given him, gave them time and place coordinates, but also had a number for James to call and tell Melody where to meet them. He knew who he was looking for. He had met her at Amy and Rory's wedding, but her parents, as well as his were in for a bit of a shock. He looked up where the coordinates would take them, and called the number.

 

“Hello?” the young woman answered.

 

“Hi, Melody. This is James Tyler. It's today, sweetheart. Meet us in the park,” he instructed her.

 

“Might take me a bit to find a ride, but I'll get there. Count on it,” she replied and ended the call.

 

He began to input the coordinates, but stopped when he noticed everyone staring at him. The older River Song said that she would take Mickey, Vastra, Jenny, and Strax back home, but the Doctor, Rose, Amy and Rory were looking for answers. He stopped keying in the controls and sighed.

 

“I'll tell you what I can. When we were in America, River gave me very specific instructions that I needed to rescue that little girl from the orphanage, take her to look into the vortex because she was dying from all of the things those monsters had done to her, and after she regenerated, take her to where she remembered growing up. It was a circular paradox and no matter how much I wanted to change her childhood, I couldn't,” James explained.

 

“Oh my god! That little girl? That little girl was my Melody? But she wasn't a baby!” Amy cried and collapsed in tears on Rory's shoulder.

 

“I'm so sorry, Amy. By the time I figured it all out, we had already known too much, it would have been catastrophic to try and change established events,” James told her, tears in his own eyes at the thought of what they had done to her.

 

“And you couldn't talk to us?” Rose questioned.

 

“Oh, mum, you have no idea how much I wanted to. There are still so many more things that I wish I could tell all of you, but I can't. It's tearing me apart! I have no idea how River manages so well with keeping all of her secrets with her cheeky smile sometimes,” he growled in frustration.

 

“I'm willing to bet, that she learned it from you. Who better to teach her all of the things that she needs to know than you? The one who rescued her from the monsters, helped her during her regeneration and will reunite her with her parents?” the Doctor told him proudly.

 

“Dad,” he said, shaking his head. He knew that this wasn't a reunion, just revealing the truth that had always been there. “It's not over yet.”

 

“I need to see my daughter. Take us there now, Jamie, please,” Amy requested when she got her crying under control. “I'm just going to get changed,” she added when she looked down at the white gown they had dressed her in during her captivity.

 

A few minutes later, they materialized in the same park where they had first chased down Prisoner Zero after meeting Amy so long ago. Melody wasn't there yet, so they all sat on the benches as they waited for her.

 

“Shining Star was a nice one,” the Doctor told Rose as they cuddled together.

 

“Bit long, don't you think?” Rose responded.

 

“Mmmm, Precious?”

 

“I'm not a ring,” she giggled.

 

“Dumpling? Goddess? Flower?” he continued suggesting, prompting more and more giggles from his wife.

 

Their playful banter was interrupted by a red sports car that screeched to a halt, half on the grass at the edge of the park. A young, dark skinned girl, climbed out of the car and approached them with a smirk.

 

“Mels!” Rory called to her.

 

“What are you doing here?” Amy asked her.

 

“Oh, meeting a friend,” she replied.

 

“Er, where did you get the car?” Rory asked, knowing the kind of trouble that their friend often got herself into.

 

“It's mine,” she told them, but when they heard the approaching police sirens, she added, “-ish.”

 

“Oh, Mels, not again,” Amy groaned. James had to fight to keep himself from laughing out loud at how much his friends already acted like parents to their unknown daughter.

 

“You can't keep doing this. You're going to end up in prison,” Rory warned her.

 

“Sorry, hello,” the Doctor interrupted.

 

“Won't you introduce us to your friend while we're waiting?” Rose added.

 

“Is that the phone box? The bigger on the inside phone box? Oh, time travel. That's just brilliant,” Melody beamed, then turned to look at James. “Imagine meeting you here?”

 

James smirked. “Quite the coincidence, wouldn't you say?”

 

“Hang on, have you met her before?” the Doctor wondered.

 

“At the wedding,” James answered.

 

“Then why don't I know you? I danced with everyone at the wedding. The women were all brilliant. The men were a bit shy. Of course no one dances quite as nicely as you, my darling. Petal? Snugglebunny? Turtle dove?” the Doctor rambled, making Rose giggle again.

 

“Oh, I was there. Just not dancing exactly, Sweetie,” she informed him, adding the endearment in an overly sweet, sarcastic tone. “Ooh, I like that.”

 

James immediately started laughing to rival his mother's response. The sirens got louder as the police approached the park.

 

“And that's me, out of time,” Melody announced and pulled a gun from her pocket. She pointed it directly at the Doctor.

 

“Mels!” Amy shouted.

 

“For god's sake!” Rory added.

 

“I need out of here, now,” Melody insisted.

 

“You didn't have to do that. Put the gun away, please,” James requested, his eyes wide with fear for his parents. He wasn't prepared for dealing with that yet. He had been working on ideas to deal with the beach and a space suit that was controlling her actions. He was not prepared to deal with a brainwashed young lady with a gun.

 

“Anywhere in particular?” the Doctor asked her nervously.

 

“Well, let's see. You've got a time machine, I've got a gun. What the hell. Let's kill Hitler,” Melody suggested and gestured for all of them to get into the TARDIS ahead of her.

 

“But what about meeting her?” Amy protested, not wanting to miss the arranged meeting with her daughter.

 

“Don't worry, Amy. You won't miss a thing,” James assured her. “Now would you please put the gun away? We got you out of there, there's no need for this.”

 

“It won't work in here anyway,” the Doctor told her. “We're in a state of temporal grace. It keeps all weapons from functioning while we're in flight.”

 

“ _Is that true?”_ Rose asked silently.

 

“ _Not a bit, but I hope it will discourage her from firing at us,”_ the Doctor replied.

 

“Really?” Melody wondered and proceeded to fire her gun at the glass of the time rotor. The entire ship lurched to the side and tossed most of the occupants onto the floor.

 

“You've shot it! You shot my TARDIS! You shot the console!” the Doctor shouted indignantly.

 

“It's your fault!” Melody argued.

 

“How's it my fault?” the Doctor demanded as he fought to regain control of the ship. James ran to help him stabilize their flight, despite the fact that they were likely to crash when they reached their destination.

 

“You said guns didn't work in this place. You said we're in a state of temporal grace,” she insisted.

 

“That was a clever lie, you idiot! Anyone could tell that was a clever lie,” the Doctor cried and grasped his wife tightly to brace for a very rough landing.

 

When the ship finally came to a stop, there was black smoke everywhere. James and the Doctor quickly ushered everyone out of the doors and the Doctor found that he had to support Rose.

 

“Out, out, out! Everybody out. Don't breathe the smoke, just get out!” the Doctor shouted. “What is it, love? What's wrong?”

 

“I just feel... dizzy and a bit weak,” Rose told him breathily.

 

“Oh! It's because the TARDIS is damaged. She's repairing herself, you should be fine very soon. Just rest here,” he told her and walked his wife over to a chair nearby to rest.

 

“Where are we?” Amy asked.

 

“A room,” the Doctor told them distractedly.

 

“What room?” Rory questioned.

 

“I don't know what room. I haven't memorized every room in the universe yet. We took a couple days off,” the Doctor responded angrily as they distracted him from helping his wife.

 

“Mels, don't go in there!” James shouted when he saw her trying to sneak back inside the TARDIS. He grasped her arms and pulled her away, also taking the gun from her hands and hiding it inside one of his trans-dimensional pockets.

 

“Oi!” she protested angrily.

 

“That smoke is really dangerous. We can't go back in until the ship repairs herself,” he told her firmly.

 

“Doctor. This guy, I think he's hurt,” Rory called as he noticed a man lying on the floor. “No, hang on. He's fine.”

 

It was at that moment that another man stood up from where he had been hiding behind the large desk in what they realized was a very expensively furnished office. The TARDIS had crashed through the window and into the opposite wall.

 

“Ooo, hello. Sorry, is this your office? Had a sort of collision with my vehicle. Faults on both sides, lets' say no more about... it,” the Doctor rambled until he realized exactly who he was talking too. Taking in the large flag on the wall behind him, the various decorations on his uniform, and the rather distinctive appearance of the man, he deduced that they had indeed come to meet Hitler.

 

“Who?” Rory gasped.

 

“Is that? No, it can't be, Doctor?” Amy protested.

 

“Yes, Amy, it can,” James squeaked in a manner similar to the Doctor's last incarnation.

 

“Thank you, whoever you are. I think you have just saved my life,” Hitler told them.

 

The Doctor gulped loudly before replying, “Believe me, it was an accident.”

 

“What is this thing?” the Fuhrer asked as he stepped closer to the smoking TARDIS.

 

“What did he mean, we saved his life? We could not have just saved Hitler,” Amy argued.

 

“This is what happens when we try to get too close to fixed points in time,” Rose groaned.

 

“This box, what is it?” Hitler wondered.

 

“It's a police telephone box from London, England. That's right, Adolf. The British are coming,” the Doctor told him, not seeing the man behind him get up from where he had been lying on the floor and glaring at Hitler.

 

“No, stop him!” Adolf shouted and drew the gun from his holster to shoot the man who had apparently been trying to kill him before they arrived. The Doctor ducked out of the way, but Hitler fired two shots at the advancing man before Rory managed to get close enough to punch him in the face and take the gun from his hands. He tossed it into the chair nearby.

 

“Sit still, shut up,” Rory told the man firmly.

 

“Nice one, Rory,” James complimented.

 

Amy moved to check on the other man, who claimed to be alright, but promptly fainted. They didn't see any bullet wounds, however.

 

“He was going to kill me!” Hitler accused.

 

“Shut up, Hitler!” Rory shouted.

 

“There's something you never thought you were going to say,” Rose commented.

 

“Rory, Jamie, take Hitler and put him in that cupboard over there. Now, do it,” the Doctor ordered as he tried to regain control of the situation that had been getting steadily worse ever since they had met Amy and Rory's friend in the park. It was supposed to be a simple reunion with their child and instead they were in Berlin with Hitler.

 

“Right. Putting Hitler in the cupboard,” Rory repeated as he and James grabbed his arms and led him toward the small space.

 

“This definitely wasn't on my to do list,” James added, shaking his head.

 

“But I am the Fuhrer!” he protested.

 

“Right, in you go!” Rory told him and they shoved the furious man into the closet, slamming the door in his face.

 

Mels was leaning awkwardly against a table, clutching her stomach. When she groaned in pain, everyone looked toward her.

 

“Mels?” Amy asked.

 

“Are you alright?” James questioned worriedly.

 

“Hitler,” she told them.

 

“What about him?” the Doctor wondered.

 

“Lousy shot,” she concluded and collapsed onto the floor.

 

“Oh my god!” James cried and dashed to her side to catch her before she hit her head.

 

“Mels! Mels!” Amy shouted.

 

“Rory!” the Doctor called, knowing that his nursing skills would be the most helpful in this situation.

 

“No, no, no, no! I've got to stop the bleeding,” Rory told them.

 

“Hold on, just hold on,” James whispered to her.

 

“How bad is it? Rory, what can we do?” Amy questioned, terrified for her friend.

 

“Just keep her conscious. Stay with us, Mels,” Rory told them urgently as he tried to access the wound.

 

“Look at me, Mels. It'll be alright, I promise,” James assured her, holding her in his lap on the floor.

 

“I was waiting so long. And all those stories Amy used to tell me,” she gasped as she looked into James' eyes that were rapidly filling with tears. He didn't want her to regenerate again already. She was going through them far too quickly.

 

“I know. There'll be lots more stories to come, don't you worry,” James told her.

 

“When I was little, I was going to marry you,” she admitted.

 

James smiled at her. “Sounds like a plan, after you're feeling better,” he said with a sad smile.

 

“Shouldn't you ask my parents' permission?” she teased.

 

“Oh probably. What do you say, Rory? May I have permission to marry your daughter?” James asked, looking up at his friends.

 

“Penny in the air. Penny drops,” Mels said as a golden glow shimmered over her body.

 

“What the hell's going on?” Rory shouted.

 

“Back! Back! Back! Get back!” the Doctor ordered them all. “You too, Jamie! You should know better than to be that close!”

 

“Especially after the last time. Are you planning to be there every time I do this?” Melody wondered, standing up as the light grew brighter.

 

“Yup,” James replied.

 

“Oh my god. Is that her?” Rose gasped, still sitting weakly in a chair nearby.

 

“Mels. Short for...” the Doctor began.

 

“Melody,” she nodded.

 

“Yeah. I named my daughter after her,” Amy told him.

 

“Amy, you named your daughter after your daughter,” James informed her with a smirk.

 

“You brought her back to grow up with me?” Amy questioned, disbelief clear on her face.

 

“It's where she told me to bring her!” he countered.

 

“It all worked out in the end, didn't it? You got to raise me after all,” Melody told her mother.

 

“You're Melody?” Amy asked.

 

“But if she's Melody, that means that she's also...” Rory began.

 

“Shut up, Dad. I'm focusing on a dress size,” Melody interrupted and burst into an explosion of golden light. When they could all see again, she had transformed into the image of the woman they knew as River Song.

 

“Oh! Oh, oh! Whoa! Right, let's see, then,” Melody said as she ran her hands over her new body appreciatively. “Ooo, it's all going on down there, isn't it? The hair? Oh, the hair! It just doesn't stop, does it?” she rambled when she found a mirror over the fireplace to look at herself. “Look at that. Everything changes. Oh, but I love it. I love it! I'm all sort of... mature.”

 

“Yes you are,” James told her as he laughed nervously and risked a glance at his parents, who still seemed to be in shock with the revelation that the girl was River Song.

 

“Excuse me, you lot. I need to weigh myself,” she said and ran from the room.

 

“That's Melody,” Amy said, staring into the distance.

 

“That's River Song,” Rory added, equally stunned.

 

“Who's River Song?” Melody asked, sticking her head back into the room briefly.

 

“Spoilers,” the Doctor told her.

 

“Spoilers? What's spoilers? Hang on, just something I have to check,” she told them and left again.

 

“Is anybody else finding today just a bit difficult? I'm getting a sort of banging in my head,” Rory commented.

 

“I'll agree with you there, Rory,” Rose called groggily from where she was still resting in the chair.

 

“Yeah, I think that's Hitler in the cupboard,” Amy teased.

 

“That's not helping!” Rory groaned.

 

“Are you feeling any better, love?” the Doctor asked and clasped his wife's hand supportively.

 

“A little, I guess. How long will it take the TARDIS to repair herself? I think she's focusing on that, diverting some of what she's usually sending my way?” Rose postulated.

 

“Probably. Shouldn't be long now,” he told her comfortingly and brushed her hair back from her face, giving her a sweet kiss.

 

“So, this isn't the River Song we know yet. This is her right at the start. Doesn't even know her own name,” the Doctor told them.

 

“No, dad. She knows her own name, it's just that we didn't know it until now,” James argued.

 

“Oh, that's magnificent!” Melody shouted from the other room and reappeared in the doorway. “I'm going to wear lots of jodhpurs.”

 

James nodded at her and gulped. He knew her in her future. In fact, they were very comfortable with each other, but she was behaving differently right now from what he was used to. She had always been quite gentle with him while teasing everyone else, but right now, he was getting almost the same snarky treatment as the rest of them.

 

“Well, now, enough of all that. Down to business,” Melody told them and revealed a device she must have hidden away somewhere. There was a small screen showing a countdown and she moved to stand right next to where Rose was sitting.

 

“What? Where did you get that?!” the Doctor gasped, looking at the device in horror.

 

“Brought it along. No choice really, you know how it is,” she replied and slapped it onto Rose's arm.

 

“No! No, no, no, no!” the Doctor shouted and ran to his wife to try and remove it quickly.

 

“Doctor? What's she doing?” Rory questioned, never knowing their friend to be violent.

 

“What she's been programmed to do,” James explained. “Listen to me, Melody, please. You don't have to do this.”

 

“Oh but I do,” she told him with a slightly manic smile.

 

“Why would you try to kill Rose? I don't understand!” Amy shouted, grasping her husband's hand as they watched the Doctor frantically trying to use his sonic to get the device off of Rose's arm.

 

“Oh, mummy, mummy, pay attention. I was trained and conditioned for one purpose. I was born to kill the Doctor and Rose,” Melody replied.

 

“Melody, please, I can take you to see all of time and space. Just you and me, but I can't do that if you kill my mother today!” James pleaded with her. “Please, River!”

 

“Who's River?” she questioned.

 

“A very, very dear friend of mine,” he answered, searching her eyes for some glimmer of the woman that he loved very much.

 

She met his gaze briefly, but blinked and looked away. “Stupid name. Oh, look at that. Berlin on the eve of war. A whole world about to tear itself apart. Now that's my kind of town. Mum, Dad, don't follow me. And yes, that is a warning,” she told them and jumped out of the broken window.

 

“Dad, what can we do?” James questioned worriedly.

 

“I don't know!” he shouted angrily as his efforts to remove the device continued to fail. The countdown still had a little way to go, but once it did, the shock that it would run through the person wearing it would kill her for sure. With the weakened state of the TARDIS, she didn't have her heart to keep her going through something like this.

 

“Calm down, love. We'll think of something. Is there anything inside the TARDIS that might help get this thing off or shut it down?” Rose suggested.

 

“No. Yes? Maybe. Right, you three, go find River. I can lock the TARDIS onto your sonic, Jamie. We'll find you. I'm going to try and save my wife now,” he instructed and carried Rose back inside the time ship.


	14. Saving the Bad Wolf

Chapter 14 – Saving the Bad Wolf

 

 

James, Amy and Rory ran after River and watched as she proceeded to insult a group of Nazi soldiers.

 

“Well, I was on my way to this gay Gypsy Bar-Mitzvah for the disabled, when I thought, gosh, the Third Reiche's a bit rubbish. I think I'll kill the Fuhrer. Who's with me?” she taunted cheekily.

 

“Oh god,” James groaned.

 

“Shoot her,” one of the officers ordered.

 

“No!” Rory shouted as they continued running towards her. Terror ripping through him as all of the soldiers opened fire on his daughter.

 

“Tip for you all, never shoot a girl while she's regenerating,” River told them and exploded with another burst of golden energy as all of the bullet wounds healed instantly. “Ah! Now, that hit the spot. Thanks, boys. Call me,” she added and drove off on one of their motorbikes.

 

“Just like dad, when his hand was cut off after regenerating,” James realized.

 

While all of the soldiers were still writhing on the ground, James hopped on another motorbike, while Amy and Rory found a third. They quickly followed, trying to desperately to catch up to River before they lost sight of her. The trio pulled up next to a hotel where she had apparently abandoned her motorbike and suddenly heard people screaming inside.

 

“That sounds like our girl,” James sighed and ran into the building.

 

He didn't notice behind him that another Amy approached on a motorbike, taking the real Amy and Rory inside with a miniaturization ray.

 

James ran into the room all of the people were fleeing from and found River admiring herself in the mirror, wearing new clothes that she had apparently acquired from some of the other women that had been there.

 

“Now, look at that. That's fun from every angle,” River cooed to herself.

 

“I'd have to agree,” James announced and leaned against the door frame, his arms crossed over his chest.

 

“Well, look who's here? I thought you'd be helping the Doctor to save your mother's life,” River commented.

 

“Not while you're here,” he replied simply.

 

“Why me? Why did you save me all those years ago and why help me now?” she wondered.

 

“I just asked your father for permission to marry you and you need to ask that?” James responded with a raised brow.

 

“Surely that was just...” River began.

 

“I wasn't joking,” Jame interrupted and sighed. “Melody, I'm a time traveller. You will be as well. I've known you since I was a child. My dad met you before he even knew I existed. I know you, better than you even know yourself right now.”

 

“I didn't have a choice,” she told him with tears in her eyes. “The conditioning. I tried to fight it before I put that thing on your mother, but I couldn't stop myself.”

 

“I know, love,” he assured her and approached her to carefully take her hands.

 

“Amy,” River said as she looked up at the doorway. “I told you not to follow me.”

 

“Where's Rory?” James questioned and wondered why Amy's face looked so blank of expression as she approached them.

 

“You killed Rose Tyler,” Amy announced coldly.

 

“She isn't dead yet, I would know,” James argued, tapping the side of his head. _“Dad, I've found River, but there's something wrong with Amy all of a sudden,”_ he thought to his father, hoping that maybe River could deactivate or remove the device now that he was talking her down.

 

“ _Alright, bit busy, but we'll be there in a mo',”_ he replied quickly.

 

“You killed Rose Tyler on the orders of the movement known as the Silence and Academy of the Question. You accept and know this to be true?” Amy asked formally and James knew then that this was not his friend as she appeared to be.

 

“Quite honestly, I don't really remember. It was all a bit of a jumble,” River replied flippantly as she adjusted her new clothing and continued to admire herself in the mirror.

 

Amy's mouth opened suddenly and a bright beam of light engulfed River. She shrieked in pain as she was lifted slightly off of the floor. “No! No! Get off me!” she shouted painfully.

 

\--'-{@ @}-'--

 

Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor carried his wife up next to the console and placed her on the jumpseat as he shouted, “Extractor fans on!”

 

The smoke suddenly cleared from the room and he beamed for a moment, “Ooh, that worked!”

 

“Right, very good. Now what's the plan, love?” Rose questioned.

 

“Scans, time to run some scans to see if I can do something about this thing before it kills you,” he told her as he ran to the keyboard and pulled the monitor around where he could see it.

 

“What's this thing do when the timer runs out?” she questioned, not entirely sure that she wanted to know.

 

“It will force a very dangerous electrical shock through your body and given the fact that the TARDIS isn't 100% herself, I don't think she'll be able to fully protect you, if she even could from something like that. She was clear that you would be alive as long as the two of you were connected, and I know that we figured out long ago that you heal very quickly from cuts and so forth, but I don't want to test whether you're like Jack and just pop back up from the dead, thank you very much,” he rambled nervously.

 

“Agreed, so, you didn't have any luck removing it before. Can you deactivate it?” she suggested.

 

“I'm trying, but I can't seem to access the power supply or shut down the timer,” he replied and growled angrily.

 

“Can we ask the TARDIS whether I'd survive this?” Rose wondered.

 

“We can't talk to her like when she was Idris, Rose. You know that,” he told her.

 

“There has to be a way for her to explain exactly what she's given me,” Rose argued and approached the console, leaning on it heavily as she still felt weak. When she touched the time rotor, there was a bright flash of golden light and Rose threw her head back as if suddenly possessed.

 

“Rose! TARDIS, what are you doing to her?” the Doctor demanded, frantic but afraid to touch her at the same time while this, whatever it was, was happening.

 

“I remember,” Rose said softly as the light faded and she regained control of herself.

 

“What do you remember?” he questioned as he took a hold of her and searched her eyes worriedly.

 

“I remember what the TARDIS and I agreed to when we were connected the first time. She can't protect me from this fully, but she told me that she can help. We need to get to River though. She can do the rest if we can convince her to help,” Rose explained.

 

\--'-{@ @}-'--

 

“Sorry, I must have misheard you. Did you just accuse her of killing Rose Tyler?” Rose asked from the doorway of the TARDIS where it was parked on the other side of the room. They hadn't heard it materialize, but there had been a lot going on.

 

“Five minutes, seventeen seconds,” the Doctor announced as he checked how much time was left on the device.

 

“You will stop hurting her this instant,” Rose demanded of the thing that looked like Amy. The painful beam stopped but River was kept restrained inside some kind of forcefield.

 

“Amelia Pond, judgment death machine. Why am I not surprised?” the Doctor said as he approached the thing that was imitating their friend. He used his sonic screwdriver to scan Amy. “Oh, it's a robot. With four hundred and twenty three life signs inside. A robot worked by tiny people. Love it. But how do you all get in there, though?”

 

James' mind whirred with ideas as he realized that this thing was the answer to saving his father's life on the beach at Lake Silencio. A robot that could copy the physical appearance of anyone and be controlled from the inside, teleporting out at just the right moment.

 

“Bigger on the inside?” the Doctor wondered as he scanned it again. “No, basic miniaturization sustained by a compression field.”

 

“Ooh, best be careful with that, the gas exchange is a nightmare,” Rose commented from where she was sitting.

 

“Too right, my love,” the Doctor agreed.

 

“About three minutes,” Rose informed him.

 

“Right, I need you to release that woman right there, this instant,” the Doctor demanded.

 

“Why would you care? She's the woman who will kill you and your wife,” the Amy robot responded.

 

“She's not dead yet and at least I'm not a time travelling, shape shifting robot operated by miniaturized cross people, which, I have got to admit, I didn't see coming. What do you want with her?” the Doctor asked, trying to hurry this along before they ran out of time.

 

“She is Melody Pond,” Amy replied. “According to records, the woman who kills the Doctor and Rose Tyler.”

 

“And that's us, so what's it to you?” he questioned.

 

“Throughout history, many criminals have gone unpunished in their lifetimes. Time travel has responsibilities,” the robot controllers answered.

 

“What? You got yourselves time travel, so you decided to punish dead people? That's stupid,” Rose protested.

 

“We don't kill them. We extract them near the end of their established timelines,” it replied.

 

“And then what?” the Doctor asked.

 

“Give them hell.”

 

“I'd ask who you think you are, but I think the answer is pretty obvious. So, who do you think I am, huh? The woman who killed the Doctor and Rose Tyler. It sounds like you've got our biographies in there. I'd love a peek,” the Doctor told the people behind the robot.

 

“Dad! You know better than that! Let me handle this. You are accusing Melody Pond of something that she hasn't done yet. If those events are as fixed as you seem to think they are, then you would cause a paradox by preventing those events before they've occurred. If they aren't fixed points, then they can still be prevented, so I demand that you release her immediately,” James ordered. There were a few tense, silent seconds before the energy field surrounding River disappeared.

 

“Perfect, now, Melody, we need you to come over here please. Jamie, take the TARDIS and get Amy and Rory out of there,” the Doctor barked as he pulled the slightly disoriented River over to Rose's side.

 

“I can't stop it. I wish I could, but I can't. Once it's been set in motion, it can't be reversed,” River protested, tears falling down her cheeks in remorse.

 

“I know, sweetheart, but there is still a way,” Rose assured her and took her hands in her own. “I didn't know quite what to make of you the first time we met. But I've come to trust you quite a bit over the years. You saved Jamie's life, probably on more than one occasion. And I know that he loves you very much. Now, I have a special connection with the TARDIS.”

 

“I know. That's why the conditioning made me shoot the console before the attempt to kill you began,” River admitted.

 

“Normally, the TARDIS can protect me, but she's weak right now, barely able to make these quick jumps to close locations. She'll help me a little, but I need your help too. You just regenerated and your body can take quite a bit right now. If you're willing to hold on with me when this thing goes off, we can both survive. I won't lie, the TARDIS told me that it is going to hurt both of us quite a lot, but there are some things that are worth it for family,” Rose told her and looked at the woman that she was sure would become her daughter in law very soon.

 

The TARDIS rematerialized and James ran out to his mother's side, Amy and Rory following him quickly. They all gathered around them closely, anxiously awaiting the brilliant plan that would save Rose's life.

 

“One minute, best get her inside and next to the heart of the TARDIS,” the Doctor announced and picked her up, bridal style to carry her back into their home. “And you can mind your own business,” he added over his shoulder to the judgment machine before kicking the doors closed.

 

Rose and River sat on the floor, next to the console. River placed her hand over the device she had attached to Rose's arm and they looked at each other and nodded as the timer ran down. Everyone else backed away cautiously when both women clenched their eyes shut. They were both engulfed in a cloud of blue light, arcs of electricity and sparks flew around them wildly for a full ten seconds before the device overloaded itself and shut down.

 

In an instant, the Doctor picked up Rose, and James picked up River. They ran to the medbay as fast as their legs would carry them, the women in their arms breathing shallowly, but still breathing. They laid them down on the beds waiting for them and began treating both of them with all of the advanced technology they had available. Before long, they were both feeling much better and it was time to say some goodbyes.

 

“We have a lot to talk about. And she needs to find out about herself. I'll help her and I'll keep her safe, I promise,” James explained to both of their parents as he held River's hand in the console room.

 

“I trust you, Jamie. You look after my little girl,” Amy told him.

 

“And both of you call your parents once in a while!” Rose added.

 

“Mum, how is River supposed to time that properly?” James argued and shook his head. “I'll bring her to visit once in a while, yeah?”

 

“Sounds like a plan,” Rory agreed.

 

“Ready to go?” James asked River and placed her hand on top of his vortex manipulator.

 

“Where are we going?” River wondered.

 

“A very special place for us. You'll love it, the dogs have no noses!” he teased and the pair disappeared in a flash of light.


	15. Serious Discussion

Chapter 15 – Serious Discussion

 

 

James and River were off travelling, Amy and Rory were asleep in their room, and the Doctor and Rose were cuddled up together in the library. So many things had happened recently. Most of them were quite distressing, but they tried to be happy for the fact that River was finally able to tell her parents who she was.

 

"Not that it's anything new, having people trying to kill us, but this particular threat seems a little more serious than usual, yeah?" Rose said worriedly, breaking the silence in the room.

 

The Doctor stopped caressing her hair for a moment and kissed her forehead. "Yes, I would say so. They've obviously gone to quite a lot of effort for a very long time with this. And the people in the Tesselecta seemed to think that our deaths were established facts for them."

 

"Tesselecta?" Rose questioned.

 

"That's what Amy said the people called that robot thing. Their records showed that River Song killed both of us," he explained and squeezed her a little tighter.

 

"Ok, well, as far as they saw, I might have just died. They left before we fixed it, so let's presume they consider me already dead, even if we know I'm not. What about you? Could it be something similar?" she wondered.

 

"I suppose. I can't help but wonder about what happened before we met up with them in America. They all seemed genuinely surprised that we could be there," he told her.

 

"Oh my god, you're right! And they were so shaken and upset. But, Jamie said it was a loop or something, right? Maybe he knew that it wasn't the way it looked? Please? I can't lose you  again , Doctor," she pleaded hopefully.

 

"Calm down. If I know our Jamie, no matter how well I've trained him about paradoxes and the resolve he showed in not changing River's past, no matter how much he wanted to, I'm sure that he would let a few hints slip if he truly thought we were going to die," he told her soothingly.

 

"But how do we prevent it if we don't even know what is going to happen? Can we ask him a bout it now and get the details to plan how to fix it?" Rose wondered.

 

"Maybe, but he's a bit busy at the moment. And, well, just in case we can't fix it all, I have a few thousand things on my bucket list that I'd like to do before I go. How about you?" he asked teasingly as he shifted himself to lying on the sofa with her on top of him.

 

"Mmmm, maybe," she sighed and kissed him, pressing her hips against his to show that she agreed with his current interests. She leaned down and took the end of his bow tie in her teeth to pull it lose. He growled at her playfully and decided that the sofa was too small for what he wanted.

 

There was a soft rug in front of the fireplace, so he picked her up with practiced ease and moved to lie her there. She pulled her shirt over her head while he ran back to grab a few throw pillows for them. He tossed them playfully at her. "What else am I meant to do with throw pillows, but throw them?" he teased when she protested the attack with a squeal.

 

"Get your kit off, Time Lord," she insisted as she pulled off her trainers.

 

He happily complied and within minutes, they were nestled together in front of the blazing fireplace, fingers in each other's hair, and their legs tangled. It was terrifying for both of them to have this threat hanging over their heads. They didn't know of any future situations that would give them a hint at survival the way he did with River before telling him that she knew him. And logically, if they did die, Jamie would be able to take over their job of protecting the universe in their place now. That fear fuelled a terrifying need to do everything at once before it was all ripped away.

 

Grasping Rose's wrists, he pulled them over her head and held them there as he rolled on top of her. She willingly wrapped her legs around her husband's hips and he sank into her with a groan. The pace he set was fast and hard as they both tried to run from their fear and hide inside each other for eternity.

 

The Doctor leaned down to take her breast into his mouth and he bit down just hard enough to cause the perfect amount of pain. A pain that fanned the fire in his wife, but didn't really hurt her. She threw her head back with a gasp and called out his name. His true name. The one that was burned in her mind, but she had been so sure that she'd never be able to pronounce it if she tried. He stared at her in awe for a moment and when her body clenched around him, they both gasped and he came inside of her after only a few more thrusts.

 

"How did you?" he wondered breathlessly.

 

"What?" she asked, confused by his disbelief over something.

 

"You said my name. I didn't think your body could even make those sounds," he told her.

 

"Did I? How did I do that? I can't even think it properly, let alone figure out how I would pronounce it," she replied.

 

"Well, it is embedded into your mind, part of our bond that you cannot forget. But the fact that you said it out loud and the fact that you apparently did it without even trying, tells me that you are capable of using it if necessary. I didn't know if you could," he admitted and brushed some hair off of her face that had gotten stuck there by a few drips of sweat.

 

"Why can't I remember saying it?" she questioned.

 

"I'm not sure. Though I must admit, it's incredible to hear you shout it like that during coitus," he answered and grinned at her proudly.

 

She smacked his arm playfully and said, "You're so full of yourself!"

 

"Actually, at this moment, I belief that you are rather full of me," he teased and pressed his once again firm erection into her, eliciting a breathy moan from his wife. She was so thankful for his almost nonexistent refraction time. Two hearts were good for a lot of things, especially blood flow.

 

"Wait a moment, love. What about those blue envelopes? Are those another sign that the whole thing might have been staged," Rose questioned before she lost her train of thought completely.

 

"You may be right. I'll add it to the list," he hummed against her neck and tapped the side of his head to indicate where this list was forming. "In the meantime, I think we ought to focus on enjoying our lives as they are. Run together until the universe demands our attention once more."

 

"Like we ran from the Ood?" she gasped as he pinched her nipple harshly.

 

"Longer. Centuries! They'll never find us. Just you and I, my love," he insisted and while she hated the idea of not seeing her family for who knew how long, the thought that visiting might be the very trigger to pull them back into this mess made her agree that this escape was what they both needed right now.

 

"Yes!" she sighed and arched her back, her mind going blissfully blank once more.

 

\--'-{@ @}-'--

 

James and River materialized on Barcelona and River immediately doubled over from the feeling of travelling without a capsule. James wasn't expecting that response because he had spent so many years doing exactly that with her and never had a problem. He had to remind himself that this was all brand new to her.

 

"Are you alright, River? I'm sorry, I forgot how rough that is the first few times," he told her as he helped her stand back up.

 

"Yeah, sorry. The last time you did that was such a long time ago and I was dying at the time, I kind of forgot. Why do you call me River?" she asked.

 

James sighed. This was going to be a difficult conversation. "Walk with me?" he asked and led her toward the fountain where they had talked when she brought him here so many years ago. They sat together for a moment as James thought about how to explain.

 

"You've had such a hard life already, but this is going to be difficult to accept. Because of that, I'll be here for you for as long as you need me to be. You can't be Melody anymore, at least not for a very long time. First, because you're going to meet your parents at times when they won't know who you are. You'll meet me and my parents out of order too. But also, it will continue to keep you as safe as possible from the people that hurt you. You need to rediscover who you are right now. Not just the changes in your appearance and personality that come with regeneration, but also becoming the strong and wonderful person that I know you will be," he told her.

 

"Why does it all have to be this way? You can travel in time, why can't you fix it?" she questioned with tears in her eyes.

 

"Oh, my love," he sighed and pulled her into a hug. "I would love nothing more than to take away all of the pain that you have already suffered and fix everything. But changing events where we already know too much about the outcome create paradoxes that can tear the universe apart. And while you are more than worth it, there wouldn't be anywhere left for us to live."

 

She laughed slightly at his little joke and looked up into his beautiful eyes. They were blue, but with flecks of brown or hazel and he looked at her with adoration that she couldn't quite understand. "You call me love. How can you love me after what I did to your mother?"

 

"That wasn't your fault. Anything that you have done or ever do in the future because of their influence is not your fault. So don't ever think that I blame you for it. As far as titles go, you told me once and I guess I agree since I'm repeating it, never mind about titles and just enjoy the time we have together," he assured her and smiled at the familiarity of the words. He had wondered what it was like for her to be with her husband who also wasn't at the time and here they were in almost reversed roles. "Now, we have all of time and space at our disposal. Plenty of time for me to teach you about paradoxes and tell you about my life as we go along. Where would you like to go today?"

 

River smiled and took his offered hand. "Why don't we start with here? Where are we?"

 

"Ah yes, this is the planet Barcelona. It is an Earth colony and the main reason that my family loves to visit is because they have the best chips in the galaxy!" James explained with a smile and led her down the street to explore and begin their journey together from her point of view.

 


	16. Night Terrors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait on this. School has been very demanding of my time. And the end is a bit rushed, but I hope you like it anyway. I have plans for things after this, but I liked the idea of the few changes made in here.

Chapter 16 – Night Terrors

 

Rose and the Doctor were just chatting with Amy and Rory in the console room as they tried to decide where to go next. Suddenly, the Doctor grasped at his pocket as if he had just been struck and pulled out the psychic paper.

 

“Please save me from the monsters,” he read aloud.

 

“What?” Rose gasped as she overheard him. “Who sent it?”

 

“Don't know, but I can track it. Haven't done this in a while,” he admitted.

 

“Haven't done what? What are you doing?” Amy wondered.

 

“Making a house call,” he replied and placed the wallet with the psychic paper over the telepathic circuit on the controls. “Ooh, that could be good or bad,” he cringed.

 

“What is it?” Rose questioned and leaned over his shoulder to look at the readout. “Oh my god!”

 

“What's wrong?” Rory asked, worried by their responses.

 

“The message came from the Powell Estate in London,” the Doctor answered.

 

“And that's a problem, why?” Amy pressed.

 

“Well, that's where I grew up. As far as they all know, I died years ago,” Rose told them with a sigh. “And now, we're dealing with monsters there? As if that neighbourhood wasn't bad enough.”

 

The TARDIS landed with a thump and all of them walked out into the alleyway that was very familiar to Rose and the Doctor, but not so much to Amy and Rory. It had been years since Rose had been here. Since she had skipped, hand-in-hand with the Doctor to her mother's flat and been faced with ghosts invading the planet. He laced his fingers with hers in support. At least she wouldn't have to worry about looking as much older as she really was compared with the normal time stream. This was 2010, so she had only been 'dead' for a few years to them.

 

“Is this really where you grew up, Rose?” Amy asked, scrunching her nose at the smell of their surroundings.

 

“Yeah. Haven't been here in a long time, though. Only a few years for them, I suppose, but it was before I even knew I was pregnant with Jamie,” she replied as they walked toward the stairs. “So, how do we go about this then? What are we looking for exactly?”

 

“We need to find out who sent us this message on the psychic paper,” the Doctor told them and showed it to Rory and Amy.

 

“Please save me from the monsters?” Rory read aloud.

 

“Sounds like something a kid would say,” Amy added.

 

“Exactly. A scared kid. A very scared kid. So scared that somehow its cry for help got through to us in the TARDIS,” the Doctor explained. They had reached the elevators and waited for it to arrive. “We'll split up and start asking around,” he suggested.

 

“Wait a minute, Doctor. What exactly are we asking for? You can't just knock on all the doors and say, 'hey, do you have a scared kid in there?'” Rose protested.

 

“Alright, love. It's your old stomping grounds, how do you think we should do this?” he acquiesced.

 

“We at least need a cover story. Stay in pairs, I think. Let's say we're working with the police to help find a witness to a crime. A child was seen running back here, but they couldn't see them well enough for details. We just need to talk to all the kids, yeah?” she suggested thoughtfully.

 

“Sounds brilliant, Rose,” Rory responded.

 

Rose smiled proudly and said, “This head's not just a hat rack!”

 

“Of course not! You're absolutely smashing, my love. Now, let's get to work. There's a terrified child around here and we need to find him or her,” the Doctor urged and took his wife's hand to pull her along into the elevator.

 

The Doctor and Rose started working their way along the floor where she used to live, while Amy and Rory went along the floor below. There were a few neighbours that remembered Rose and tried to strike up conversations, but she let them know that they were in a bit of a hurry to find this child before it got too late in the evening. Some of them had heard that she died a few years ago, but she assured them that those were just rumours and she had just run off travelling again with the man who was now her husband.

 

Along the way, Rose spotted a little boy peeking out through the curtains of his bedroom window. He seemed to be looking around fearfully as people walked past and ducked back into the darkness of his room quickly. She pointed out the flat to her husband and pulled him along with her.

 

“Who lives here, love?” he asked her.

 

“Alex and Claire. They've got a little boy, named George,” she told him.

 

“Don't remember them,” he commented.

 

“Well, you didn't pay that much attention to the neighbours at the time, did you? Not exactly one for domestic before Jamie came along,” she teased and bumped his shoulder.

 

“Only for you, my love,” he told her and gave her a peck on the cheek as they knocked on the door.

 

As the door opened, a young man greeted them and the Doctor held up the psychic paper for him. He read it quickly and commented, “Oh, right. That was quick.”

 

“Was it?” the Doctor said and glanced at the psychic paper which said that they were there from Social Services.

 

“Claire said she'd phone someone. Social Services,” he explained. He did a double take as he looked over at Rose. “Rose Tyler? You work with Social Services now?” he asked.

 

“Yes! I was away for a bit at school and now I work with Social Services, with my husband,” she stammered as she tried to recover from the shock of their cover story getting thrown out the window. “How is George?”

 

“Well, it's not easy, you know, admitting your kid's got a problem,” he mumbled and looked toward the floor as he gestured for them to enter the flat.

 

“Yeah. Our Jamie is quite the handful,” Rose told him. She couldn't give away that their child was any more than two, despite the fact that he was more than ten times that.

 

“I'll bet. You were always getting into trouble,” Alex chuckled.

 

“Sorry, I didn't mean to be so rude. This is my husband, John Smith, but he usually goes by Doctor,” Rose introduced them.

 

“Lovely to meet you. So, tell me about George,” the Doctor requested.

 

They sat on the sofa, looking at family albums, as Alex sat on the chair nearby and told them a bit of the trouble they'd been having. “Ever since he was born he's been a funny kid,” Alex said.

 

“Funny's good. We like funny, don't we, Rose?” the Doctor responded happily.

 

“He never cries. Bottles it all up, I suppose. Tell him off, he just looks at you.”

 

“Yeah, well, I just thought he was a good kid. Bit quiet maybe, but he wasn't hanging with the wrong crowd or anything,” Rose commented.

 

“How old is he?” the Doctor asked.

 

“He was eight in January. I mean, he should be growing out of stuff like this, shouldn't he?” Alex wondered.

 

“Growing out of what, exactly?” Rose questioned, not seeing that much of an issue with him not crying and being quiet.

 

“He started getting these nervous tics. You know, funny little cough, blinking all the time. But now, it's got completely out of hand. I mean, he's scared to death of everything. We talked about getting help. Maybe sending him somewhere,” Alex explained.

 

“Pantaphobia,” the Doctor told him.

 

“What?” Alex asked.

 

“That's what it's called. Pantaphobia. Not a fear of pants though, if that's what you're thinking. It's a fear of everything. Including pants, I suppose, in that case. Sorry, go on,” the Doctor babbled thoughtfully.

 

“He hates clowns,” Alex said.

 

“Understandable,” the Doctor replied and Rose elbowed him in the side. They'd had a lovely experience with a clown when Jamie was young.

 

“Old toys. He thinks the old lady across the way is a witch,” Alex listed.

 

“Well, we all thought that,” Rose interrupted.

 

“He hates having a bath in case there's something under the water. The lift sounds like someone breathing. Look, I don't know. I'm not an expert. Maybe you can get through to him,” Alex told them.

 

“We'll do our best,” the Doctor assured him.

 

They heard the crash of glass sound from inside George's room and Alex jumped to check on his son. Inside the room, they could see that the child's lamp was on the floor. “George? You ok? What's the matter? Oh, never mind. Were you having a nightmare, son?” Alex asked worriedly.

 

“Wasn't a nightmare. I wasn't asleep. Who are you?” George asked from his bed.

 

“That's a very logical point of view, young man. You are absolutely right, that you can't have a nightmare while you're awake. Hello, I'm Rose. I used to live around here a few years ago. Don't suppose you remember me?” she greeted him kindly and sat on the side of his bed.

 

“Maybe,” he responded quietly.

 

“Well, this is the Doctor,” she told him with a gesture toward her husband who moved to greet him as well.

 

“A doctor? Have you come to take me away?” the little boy questioned fearfully.

 

“No, George. I just want to talk to you,” the Doctor assured him.

 

“What about?” George wondered.

 

“About the monsters,” he replied. The Doctor was sure that this was the child that had sent them the plea on the psychic paper. Now, he just had to figure out how that had happened.

 

Rose took Alex out to make some tea while the Doctor spoke with George alone. They chatted about toys and stories and such until there was a knock on the door to the flat. While Alex was busy talking with the landlord, Rose came back into the room. The Doctor was just about to take a look in the cupboard, but George started to panic.

 

“Oh, Doctor, I found out from his dad that they put all the things that scare him into the cupboard. Sort of lock them away, yeah?” Rose informed him.

 

“And is that where the monsters go?” he asked the child, who nodded in response. “Yeah. There's nothing to be scared of, George. It's just a cupboard.”

 

The Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to make all of George's toys dance around the room, flashing lights and making noises. “That's better. No tears from George, that's what I've heard. Go on, give us a smile, there's a brave little soldier,” the Doctor urged him.

 

Rose sat next to the little boy and gave him a hug. The Doctor, meanwhile, moved to scan the cupboard with his sonic. “Anyway, let's open this cupboard, eh? There's nothing to be...” he began as the device in his hand made its usual whirring noise. “Off the scale? Off the scale. How?” he gasped.

 

“You know, love, you haven't gotten any better at this part since we had a similar situation with Amy,” Rose chastised as she tried to comfort the panicking child beside her.

 

“His monsters are real! How is this possible? And there's something else. Something I'm missing that's staring me in the face? What is it, Rose? Those are the things that you usually figure out,” he babbled worriedly.

 

“I'm doing my best! There is something, but I feel like it's something that I should have known a long time ago. Almost like... like a perception filter or something, yeah?” Rose told him thoughtfully.

 

“Should we open it? I mean look at these readings,” he told Rose and showed her his sonic.

 

“There's something,” Rose insisted as she tried to think through the filter over her mind.

 

Alex came back into the room then and the Doctor had a sudden thought. He ran out to grab one of the photo albums they'd been looking at earlier and opened it to the photos around the time of George's birth. “How old is George, Alex?” he asked.

 

“Yes, how old is George,” the Doctor repeated.

 

“Oh my god! How did I miss that? For years!” Rose gasped as she flipped the pages back and forth a few times.

 

“Well, I told you. Just turned eight,” Alex answered, not sure what Rose was so concerned about.

 

“So you remember when he was born, then?” the Doctor questioned.

 

“Of course!” Alex assured him.

 

“Course you do. How could you not? You and Claire. Christmas Eve, 2002, right?” the Doctor asked as he showed Alex a picture in the album.

 

“What? Er, yeah,” he replied.

 

“Alex, that was a couple of weeks before George was born. So why doesn't she look pregnant?” Rose prompted.

 

“Well, of course not, Claire can't have kids,” Alex told them simply, without even thinking about it.

 

“Say that again,” the Doctor urged him.

 

“Oh my god. We tried everything. She was desperate. As much IVF as we could afford, but... Claire can't have kids. How can I have forgotten that?” Alex explained, near sobbing at the realization.

 

“Alex, I didn't realize it. No one in the whole estate thought anything of the fact that she wasn't pregnant and suddenly, you had a baby. It's not your fault,” Rose assured him.

 

“Who are you, George?” the Doctor asked the little boy that was sitting on the bed, looking up at the adults fearfully.

 

“It's not possible. This isn't...” Alex began, but suddenly all of the toys in the room were shaking. The lamp began to glow brightly and a wind came up from nowhere, blowing the doors of the cupboard open wide.

 

There was a lot of shouting from the adults as George chanted, “Please save me from the monsters. Please save me from the monsters. Please save me from the monsters.”

 

The next thing they knew, the three grown ups were inside the doll house from the cupboard. While there, they found Amy and Rory, who had also been trapped there from the lift. By the end of it all, both Rose and Amy had been turned into murderous dolls and Rose's memory went a bit blurry. But the Doctor explained that he had realized what kind of alien George was and managed to get him to reverse everything.

 

The Tenza hatch in space and look for a place to live. The children sense what their foster parents want and then they assimilate perfectly into that family. George needed to be accepted and was feeling that he wasn't succeeding at that.

 

Alex accepted George as his own son, which was all the child had really been afraid of. The mention from his parents that they might send him away, had his instincts in a spin and he was terrified. Now that his father knew what the problem was and loved him anyway, George felt secure and safe in his family again.

 

Now, they were all back in the TARDIS, safe and sound. Rose was curled up in the library, reading, when the Doctor joined her. He fell heavily into his chair beside hers and she sensed that he wanted to talk about something, so she placed her bookmark and looked over at her husband.

 

“What's the matter, love?” she asked.

 

“Oh, just missing Jamie. It would be nice if he travelled with us more often, don't you think?” the Doctor pondered.

 

“Yeah, that would be nice. But, I think he's spending some time allowing River to get to know him the same way she's spent so much time before allowing him to get to know her. They're finally evening out and I think we might have a wedding to plan before too long,” Rose told him.

 

“All the more reason for us to do some of that running. I want his wedding present to be his own TARDIS,” the Doctor informed her.

 

“Is it almost ready? How much longer will it take to grow?” Rose asked, excited at the idea of the gift.

 

The Doctor glanced away from her nervously for a bit. “A couple of centuries,” he admitted.

 

Rose bit her lip and considered what he was asking. Could she really spend the better part of a few centuries away from all of their friends and family? The wedding was going to be soon, she could tell, and so was this ominous warning of their deaths.

 

“Let's take a bit for one or two more trips with Amy and Rory?” Rose pleaded.

 

“Yeah. And we could stop in a couple of times through there, if we're careful,” he responded, grasping her hand between their chairs. “Come on, love. Let's go to bed,” he urged her.

 

“I'm not tired,” she argued.

 

“Neither am I,” he replied with a wink.

 


	17. The God Complex: Part One

Chapter 17: The God Complex

 

Rose was the first one out of the TARDIS. She was raving to Amy and Rory as they followed her from the time ship. “Honestly, you'll love it! The people are like six hundred feet tall and you have to talk to them by getting into hot air balloons!”

 

“Well, I'm no expert, Rose, but I don't see any hot air balloons around here,” Amy told her, sounding less than impressed.

 

Looking around, they realized that they appeared to be in some kind of cheesy hotel. The furnishings were done in red and gold and they could hear annoying elevator music playing in the background.

 

“This... This could be the most exciting thing I have ever seen,” the Doctor beamed as he finally exited the time ship as well.

 

“Seriously, love?” Rose questioned with raised eyebrows.

 

“How can you be excited about a rubbish hotel on a rubbish bit of Earth?” Amy asked.

 

“Because, assembled Ponds and my lovely Rose, this is not Earth. This has just been made to look like Earth. The craftsmanship involved, can you imagine?” he ranted as he moved to examine some of the finer details around them. “Colonists maybe, recreating a bit of home, like when ex-pats open English pubs in Majorca. No, whoever did this, I am shaking his/her hand/tentacle.”

 

“Sort of like New New York that was the fifteenth since the original?” Rose wondered.

 

“Yes! Nostalgia! But they never went to this level of detail, love. Look at the detail on that cheese plant!” he exclaimed, pulling his wife over to look at the rather ordinary potted plant.

 

“Have you seen these? Look at the labels underneath,” Rory called to them as he examined a series of photographs on the wall. They appeared to be a wide variety of people with no obvious commonalities. “Tim Heath, having his photo taken. Lady Silver-Tear, Daleks,” he read from the engraved plates on each of them.

 

“Paige Barnes, other people's socks. Tim Nelson, balloons. Novice Prin, sabrewolves. Royston Luke Gold, Plymouth? Lucy Hayward, that brutal gorilla. Doctor, what does it mean?” Amy continued confusedly.

 

“I don't know. Let's find out,” he replied excitedly and pulled Rose with him toward the bell on the front desk. She couldn't help feeling a bit of excitement at his enthusiasm and the unpredictable nature of their lives. Even when things became terrifying and went horribly wrong, they had always found a way out. A shiver of fear ran up her spine at that thought, however, when she considered the threat of their deaths approaching.

 

The Doctor rang the bell and three people ran into the room. A young man and woman were holding found objects as weapons, and a slightly alien-looking man was carrying a white flag as he followed them.

 

“Whoa!” Rory shouted.

 

“Blimey, that was quick,” the Doctor responded.

 

“I don't think they work here, love,” Rose informed him and raised her arms.

 

“We surrender,” the man with the white flag announced. His skin was a bit grey and his face had slightly rodent-like features.

 

“No, it's ok, we're not...” Rory began to assure him.

 

“We surrender!” the man insisted.

 

“We're nice,” Rory replied.

 

“She's threatening me with a chair leg,” the Doctor said to his wife as he also raised his hands.

 

“Who are you?” the young woman demanded. She was dressed in hospital scrubs and looked very out of place.

 

“Oh god, we're back in reception,” the other young man moaned.

 

“We surrender,” the alien repeated.

 

“I've never been threatened with a chair leg before,” the Doctor commented.

 

“No, actually, we have. Remember, that one time with those people with the really long necks and lavender skin? They said that leather was illegal,” Rose corrected him.

 

“Ah, yes. Blimey, that was old big ears!” he agreed.

 

“Did you just say, 'it's ok, we're nice?'” Amy asked her husband incredulously.

 

“Ok, I need everyone to shut up now,” the young woman told them angrily as she held the chair leg a little higher.

 

“Rita, be careful, yeah?” the nervous young man warned.

 

“Their pupils are dilated. They're as surprised as we are. Besides which, if it's a trick, it'll tell us something,” she argued.

 

“Ooh, she's good!” Rose said admiringly.

 

“She is good! Amy, with regret, you're fired,” the Doctor agreed.

 

“What?” Amy gasped.

 

“I'm kidding,” he said, but turned to whisper to Rita, “We'll talk.”

 

“I think you're forgetting some important facts, husband,” Rose scolded.

 

“Right, well, I take it from the pathological compulsion to surrender, you're from Tivoli,” the Doctor said, trying to gracefully change the subject before he was sent to sleep on the sofa for the night.

 

“Yes. The most invaded planet in the galaxy. Our anthem is called Glory to Insert Your Name Here,” he replied proudly.

 

“You, with the face, Howie. You said you were surprised to be back in reception,” the Doctor prompted.

 

“The walls move. Everything changes,” Howie responded shakily, not responding well to the Doctor's rapid-fire nature.

 

“What, like you're trapped in a maze or something?” Rose wondered.

 

“You, clever one. What's he talking about?” the Doctor asked Rita.

 

“The corridors twist and stretch. Not exactly like a maze, but the rooms vanish and pop up somewhere else. It's like the hotel's alive,” she answered.

 

The Doctor went behind the desk to see what his resources were. Finding the controls, he used his sonic to turn off the elevator music. “That's quite enough of that,” he mumbled and continued to search the desk for options. Rose moved to look behind the curtains covering the windows. It seemed strange to her that there wasn't an open view to the outside when they were at main reception.

 

“Yeah, and it's huge, with like, no way out,” Howie added to Rita's description.

 

“Have you tried the front door?” Rory wondered.

 

“No. In two days, it never occurred to us to try the front door. Thank god you're here,” Rita responded sarcastically, prompting a laugh from Amy.

 

“I think the problem is a little more complex than that,” Rose told them as she opened the main doors to see another wall behind them.

 

“They're not doors, they're walls. Walls that look like doors. Door-walls, if you like, or dwalls. Woors even, though you'd probably got it when you said they're not...” the Doctor babbled.

 

“I think we've got it, love,” Rose interrupted.

 

“It's not just that. The rooms have things in them,” Rita informed them fearfully.

 

“Things? Hello! What kind of things? Interesting things? I love things, right Rose?” the Doctor continued rambling. It was clear to Rose that he was concerned about how they were going to solve this particular puzzle as things got more and more confusing.

 

“Bad dreams,” Rita added.

 

“Like your own personal nightmare or just general scary stuff?” Rose questioned.

 

“Everyone has a room with their own,” she whispered, fearfully staring into the distance as if contemplating her own.

 

“Well, that killed the mood. How did you get here?” the Doctor interrupted, hoping to distract everyone from those thoughts.

 

“I don't know. I'd just started my shift. I must have passed out, because suddenly I was here,” Rita replied, once again focussed on the situation at hand.

 

“I was blogging. Next thing, this,” Howie told them.

 

“Oh, I was at work. I'm in Town Planning. We're lining all the highways with trees so invading forces can march in the shade,” the alien, who still hadn't shared his name, informed them.

 

“Right,” Rose sighed.

 

“Which is nice for them,” he added.

 

“Yeah,” the others all agreed.

 

“So, what have we got? People snatched from their lives and dropped into an endless, shifting maze that looks like a 1980s hotel with bad dreams in the bedrooms. Well, apart from anything else, that's just rude,” the Doctor commented, pulling a Rubik's cube from his pocket to play with for a moment.

 

“Did you take that from George? Speaking of rude!” Rose chastised.

 

“I... Well, let's just pop back to the TARDIS, I'll do a planet-wide diagnostic sweep, and then we'll have a sing song,” the Doctor babbled, changing the subject as he led everyone back the way they had come originally.

 

“Where's the TARDIS? You parked it there, didn't you?” Amy asked as they reached the landing on the staircase.

 

“What's a TARDIS?” Howie questioned.

 

“Our way out. And it's gone,” Rory replied frustratedly. The annoying music started again, likely indicating that they wouldn't be able to find their way back to reception again any time soon.

 

“It can't be far away. Rose, how are you feeling, love? Can you still feel her?” the Doctor nervously rambled, checking over his wife.

 

“It feels normal to me. She's nearby, even if we can't reach her. We really need to find a way to call her to us,” Rose answered.

 

“That we do. Ok, this is bad. At the moment, I don't know how bad, but certainly we're three buses, a long walk, and eight quid in a taxi from good. Are there any more of you?” he wondered as his resources to solving the problem were being taken away.

 

“Joe. But he's tied up right now,” Rita told them.

 

“Doing what?” the Doctor asked, curious as to what task could be keeping him busy in a place like this.

 

“No, I mean he's tied up right now,” she insisted.

 

The group led them to what appeared to be some sort of restaurant. There was a bar and a stage, but seated at almost all of the tables were dozens of laughing ventriloquist dummies. Joe was tied to one of the chairs. The laughing stopped as they all turned to look at the group that entered the room.

 

Rose and the Doctor moved to talk to Joe as the others sat at an empty table in the corner.

 

“Hello. I'm the Doctor, this is Rose,” he introduced them to the man.

 

“We're going to die here,” he told them with an insane smile.

 

“Good to know you're an optimist, Joe,” Rose replied.

 

“They certainly didn't mention that in the brochure, did they, love?” the Doctor added. “Is Joe there? Can I have a quick word?”

 

“Oh, it's still me, Doctor, but I've seen the light. I lived a blasphemous life, but he has forgiven my inconstancy, and soon he shall feast,” Joe informed them.

 

“Well, you've been here two days. What's he waiting for?” the Doctor wondered, trying to establish just what it was that was threatening them.

 

“We weren't ready. We were still raw,” he replied.

 

“But now you're what, cooked?” the Doctor asked.

 

“If you like. Soon you will be, too. Be patient. First, find your room,” Joe responded, smiling happily.

 

“My room?”

 

“There's a room here for everyone, Doctor. Even you two,” he insisted.

 

“You said you'd seen the light now,” the Doctor prompted.

 

“Nothing else matters anymore. Only him. It's like these things,” Joe told them as he nodded to the dummies all around them. “I used to hate them. They make me laugh now. Gottle o' geer. Gottle o' geer,” he ranted and they all started laughing with him again. “You should go. He'll be here soon.”

 

“I think you should come with us,” the Doctor told him as he pushed a luggage trolley under the chair where he was tied up.

 

The Doctor worked out a plan to try and face whatever this threat was face to face. That meant luring it somewhere so that they could capture it safely and try to work out a solution. Along the way, they ended up taping Joe's mouth, because he kept saying disturbing things that were just worrying everyone. They came across each of the original group's private nightmare rooms along the way. The chaos of getting them all split up in the process meant the end for Joe as some large creature had stomped through the hallway and killed him.

 

It was heartbreaking, but they placed Joe's body back in the restaurant, which was now free of ventriloquist dummies. The Doctor scanned him and Rose stayed nearby to help him work through the problem. Amy and Rory tried to calm the others, while Rita made tea.

 

“I don't see any blood or anything. How did he die exactly, love?” Rose questioned.

 

“He just stopped. There is no trauma at all. What do you think from what we originally got from him? That's the part you're always so good at,” he wondered.

 

“His clothes had gambling stuff on them, yeah? Good luck charms and dice. He was superstitious. Not sure about the puppet thing. But the way he was talking, it was like everything except this monster wasn't important at all anymore,” Rose reasoned.

 

“All good points to remember. So, it presents us with our worst fears, for what reason? It feeds on fear?” he considered.

 

“But Joe wasn't afraid of it,” Rose argued.

 

“What exactly happened to him?” Rita interrupted.

 

“He died,” the Doctor replied, tapping his sonic against his chin in thought.

 

“You are a medical doctor, aren't you? You haven't just got a degree in cheese-making or something?” Rita questioned.

 

“No! Well, yes, both actually. I mean, there is no cause. All his vital organs simply stopped, as if the simple spark of life, his loves and hates, his faiths and fears were just taken, and this is a cup of tea,” the Doctor explained and smiled as he sipped the cup that Rita had handed him.

 

“Oh, brilliant!” Rose cheered and took a cup as well.

 

“Of course, I'm British, it's how we cope with trauma. That and tutting,” Rita joked.

 

“You got that right,” Rose agreed. “This is a great cup of tea, by the way.”

 

“But how did you make it?” he wondered.

 

“All hotels should have a well stocked kitchen, even alien fake ones. I heard you talking when you arrived. Look, it's no more ridiculous than Howie's CIA theory, or mine,” Rita responded.

 

“Which is?” the Doctor asked.

 

“This is Jahannam,” she told him.

 

“You're a Muslim,” the Doctor realized.

 

“What's Jahannam?” Rose asked.

 

“She thinks this is Hell,” he replied.

 

“The whole 80s hotel thing took me by surprise, though,” Rita admitted.

 

“The devil isn't here either. He was on a planet orbiting a black hole,” Rose told her, though the missing TARDIS certainly reminded her of that adventure. A shiver ran down her spine and the Doctor took her hand supportively.

 

“And all these fears and phobias wandering about, most are completely unconnected to us, so why are they still here?” the Doctor questioned, curious as to how she fit those into her theory.

 

“Maybe the cleaners have gone on strike,” she suggested.

 

“Ha! I like you. You're a right clever clogs, isn't she, Rose? But this isn't Hell, Rita,” he assured her.

 

“You don't understand. I say that without fear. Jahannam will play its tricks, and there'll be times when I want to run and scream, but I've tried to live a good life, and that knowledge keeps me sane despite the monsters and the bonkers rooms. Gibbis is an alien, isn't he?”

 

“Yeah. Sorry,” the Doctor replied.

 

“That happens to us a lot,” Rose told her.

 

“I'm going to file that under, Freak Out About Later,” Rita responded.

 

“Doctor, Rose, look at this. I found it in a corridor. I completely forgot I had it,” Amy interrupted, handing the Doctor a small journal.

 

“Er, my name is Lucy Hayward and I'm the last one left. It took Luke first. It got him on his first day, almost as soon as we arrived. It's funny. You don't know what's going to be in your room until you see it, then you realize it could never have been anything else. I just saw mine. It was a gorilla from a book I'd read as a kid. My god, that thing used to terrify me. The gaps between my worships are getting shorter, like contractions. This is what happened to the others, and how lucky they were. It's all so clear now. I'm so happy. Praise him,” the Doctor read aloud.

 

“Praise him,” Howie repeated.

 

“What did you just say?” the Doctor asked, horrified.

 

“Nothing,” Howie insisted. “Praise him,” he added, his eyes going wide.

 

“This is what happened to Joe!” the alien that they had now learned was named Gibbis shouted in fear.

 

“God, it's going to come for me now!” Howie exclaimed, curling in on himself.

 

“You'll lead it right here,” Gibbis shrieked.

 

“I won't leave you. I promise you. You have my word on that,” the Doctor assured Howie.

 

“I don't want to get eaten,” Howie sobbed.

 

“Don't you worry about that at all. Listen to me, Howie, just listen to my voice. Think about how Joe was at the end of it all. He wanted it. And that girl in the book, she said something about being happy about it. You're not happy, are you? You don't want it. Keep that. Remember that you don't want to get eaten,” Rose insisted to the frightened young man.

 

“He's going to lead the creature right here!” Gibbis insisted selfishly.

 

“Shut up,” Amy told him.

 

“You're absolutely right, Rose. There's something about it. At the end they aren't afraid and that's when it takes them. Does it extract that fear somehow first? What is it?” the Doctor pondered.

 

“Look, whatever it is out there, it's obviously chosen Howard as its next course. Now, tragic thought that is, this is no time for sentiment. I'm saying if it were to find him, it may be satisfied and let the rest of us go. All I want to do is go home and be conquered and oppressed. Is that too much to ask?” Gibbis argued.

 

“You start offering up anyone else, mate, and I'm going to throw you out the nearest window, whether there's a wall blocking it or not,” Rose shouted at him angrily.

 

“You're civilization is one of the oldest in the galaxy. Now I see why. Your cowardice isn't quaint, it's sly, aggressive. It's how that gene of gutlessness has survived while so many others have perished. Well, not today. No one else dies today. Right?” the Doctor lectured and everyone nodded their agreement. “Brilliant. Howie, any second, it's going to possess you again. When it does, I'm going to ask you some questions. Please try to answer them,” he informed him.

 

“I hope my mum's alright, she's going to be w-worried,” Howie stuttered, then they saw the change in his face. He looked blissful out of nowhere.

 

“Howie? Howie. Howie, you're next. We're all dead jealous. So, tell us. How do we get a piece of the action? Why isn't he possessing all of us?” the Doctor questioned.

 

“You guys have got all these distractions, all these obstacles. It'd be so much easier if you just let it go, you know? Clear the path,” Howie replied.

 

“Don't you remember though, Howie? You don't want to get eaten,” Rose prompted, hoping to pull him back.

 

“Are you kidding? He's going to kill us all. How cool is that?” he responded with a grin.

 

The Doctor pulled them all away from Howie to have a private discussion. “It's as I thought. It feeds on fear,” the Doctor told them hurriedly.

 

“No, Doctor. No, that's not right,” Rose insisted.

 

“But Rose, think about it, the rooms, Lucy's note, even the pictures in reception, it's all been put here to frighten us. So we have to resist it,” the Doctor insisted.

 

“So, if it feeds on fear, why isn't it after us right now? I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm bloody terrified. It doesn't want us while we're afraid, it wants us after that. Why would it want to make us afraid, if it never takes anyone while they're afraid?” Rose argued.

 

“What do we do when we're afraid?” Rory asked.

 

“Pray?” Rita answered.

 

“Think about your family and friends?” Rose suggested.

 

“What does it want?” the Doctor questioned, frustrated that his wife's argument with his reasoning did make sense. He just needed to find out what the thing wanted so he could get them all out of there safely.

 

“Can we ask it?” Rose wondered.

 

“Worth a try. Let's catch ourselves a monster,” the Doctor replied and came up with a new plan to lure the beast into a trap.

 

They used the music system to transmit Howie's voice into the hotel's spa area, where the Doctor, Rose and Rory were waiting to capture the creature. They left Gibbis with Howie, and Rita and Amy hid inside one of the rooms that didn't scare them.

 

Once they had the creature trapped, the Doctor attempted to speak with it. It looked like a mythological Minotaur. The Doctor seemed to understand it, but with some difficulty.

 

“Nothing personal. I just think we should take things slowly. Get to know each other. You take people's most primal fears and pot it in a room. A tailor-made hell, just for them. Why?” he asked and received growls in reply. “Did you say they take? Ah, what is that word? The guard? No, the warden? This is a prison. So what are we? Cell mates? Lunch? We are not ripe. This is what Joe said, that we weren't ready. So, what, what, you make us ready? You what? Replace? Replace what, fear? You have lived so long even your name is lost. You want this to stop. Because you are just instinct. Then tell me, tell me how to fight you,” the Doctor pleaded.

 

It all fell apart though when they heard Howie's voice shouting in the hallway. He had gotten free and the Minotaur crashed through the walls to pursue his meal, instinct overpowering everything. The Doctor chased after it and Rose chased after him, but was suddenly drawn toward one of the rooms.

 

Rose opened the door and her breath caught as she saw what was inside. Herself. No, it wasn't herself, this was the Bad Wolf. Her eyes, glowed fiercely and at her feet was the Doctor. She knew instantly that he was dead and it was all her fault. She should have been able to control it. She began to cry, sobbing huge tears and falling to her knees.

 

 

 


	18. The God Complex: Part Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the slight delay on this one... I needed some help reducing the fluff factor so that it didn't get too cheesy.

 

Chapter 18: The God Complex – Part 2

 

_Rose opened the door and her breath caught as she saw what was inside. Herself. No, it wasn't herself, this was the Bad Wolf. Her eyes, glowed fiercely and at her feet was the Doctor. She knew instantly that he was dead and it was all her fault. She should have been able to control it. She began to cry, sobbing huge tears and falling to her knees._

 

Before she could even hit the ground, strong arms grasped beneath hers and pulled her out of the room, the door was shut quickly and Rose found herself in the arms of her husband, who was still very much alive. Rory knelt on her other side once making sure the door was securely closed.

 

“Shh, I've got you, Rose. You're fine, you're safe now,” the Doctor whispered soothingly as he stroked her hair.

 

“I can't. I can't, Doctor. I won't let it,” she mumbled as he wiped her tears.

 

“I know, love. I'm here and you're safe,” he told her.

 

“Did you see it?” she asked.

 

“Yeah,” he replied, sending her his strength through their bond. With a nod to each other, they both stood up off the floor and walked hand-in-hand back toward reception, where Gibbis was supposed to have kept Howie restrained.

 

Along the way, they found Howie's glasses. Then Howie. The doctor replaced his glasses, but left him where he was lying, leaned up against the wall. They had nowhere to place the bodies that would be respectful anyway.

 

“It doesn't really eat them, like an animal would. So what is it eating, Doctor?” Rose questioned.

 

“Not sure. It said that it replaced fear with something else, we need to find that something else that it needs, what's drawing it in,” the Doctor replied.

 

“Praise him?” Rose whispered, almost to herself.

 

“What?! What! No! No, no, no!” the Doctor shouted frantically as he pulled Rose against himself.

 

“No, Doctor, I was thinking. It's not what you're thinking, I'm fine. But think about it, that's what they're always saying at the end. Praise. It wants praise. That's when it comes to find them,” Rose explained.

 

“You're right! You are absolutely right and completely brilliant! Go and tell the others. It wants their faith. Do what you've been doing with them, love. Keep scared, it doesn't want you while you're scared,” he urged them to go join the others.

 

“What about you?” Rose asked.

 

“Just want to make sure that we're all rounded up. No stragglers,” he assured her and watched as she and Rory headed back toward the restaurant. He didn't have to pretend to be scared when he considered what was in Rose's room. She was terrified of the Bad Wolf despite knowing that it was mainly her connection to the TARDIS. Along the way, he bumped into Rita and was glad that he had been checking for people.

 

“Rita! Brilliant! How are you? We've got this all figured out now and I am going to get you out of here,” he assured her.

 

“Why?” she asked.

 

“Excellent question. Excellent question. Why what?” he wondered, not sure what her excellent question meant at all.

 

“Why is it up to you to save us? That's quite the god complex you have there,” she commented.

 

“Well, I've got quite a lot of experience with saving people. So does Rose as it so happens. Anyway, head back to the restaurant, everyone is gathering there. And Rose will explain everything,” he informed her.

 

Rita wandered away towards the others and the Doctor roamed the halls just a little longer to make sure that everyone was getting together. He heard voices whispering to him from one of the doors suddenly. “Praise him. Praise him. Praise him.”

 

He opened the door cautiously and if he thought Rose's room was terrifying, his was truly tailor-made for him. Before him stood the Valeyard, some future incarnation of himself that he was told contained all of the evil that a Time Lord could contain. The man sneered at him and turned so that he could see the figure he was cradling. His Rose, hung limply in the Valeyard's arms, blood dripping from her everywhere. The Doctor's jaw clenched as he glared at the man, who began laughing evilly.

 

Rose felt her husband's sudden shift in mood through their bond and immediately began to follow their link to find him. She was running as fast as her legs could carry her as she felt his resolve breaking. He was angry and terrified and crying, she knew and she had to get to him fast. She saw his silhouette in one of the doorways and immediately pulled him out of the room, not daring to look inside at what would scare him, just shutting the door fiercely.

 

“I'm here. I'm here, love. I've got you,” she whispered urgently in his ear. “Let's get back to the others. We need to make a plan, yeah?”

 

“Yeah. Thank you, Rose,” he replied.

 

“Praise him,” she responded and both of their eyes went wide as Rose put her hand to her mouth in shock. She was going to be the next victim.

 

“No! Absolutely NOT!” he shouted angrily and pulled her tightly against him. “Ok, my solution was going to be to try and stop whatever faith the next target had and starve the Minotaur of the food source, but I could never destroy your faith like that. So, we've got a new plan, do you hear me? We are going to choke that gluttonous pig. Because if there's one thing that I believe in, in all the multiverse, it is you, my Rose.”

 

“I believe in you, Doctor,” she answered.

 

“Come on, let's get to the others,” he said softly and tugged her toward the restaurant where everyone else was gathered. 

 

“Alright, everyone, we've got a plan,” she announced as soon as they stepped into the room with everyone else. “It wants faith. It won't come after you while you're still scared,” Rose told them.

 

“When you're scared, what's the first thing you reach for? Your faith! It then eats that, stripping you of it slowly, and you, faithful creatures that you are, start turning toward him. When your faith in him is absolute, that's when he kills you. You're sacrifices!” The Doctor was in his element now, and excited, but Rose could tell it was only frightening the people in front of them more. 

 

“Tell them the plan,” she prodded. 

 

“Oh, the plan, yes. We're going to give it exactly what it wants.” At the protests of the people, the Doctor held up his hands in front of him and gave them a couple seconds to calm down. “We're going to overfeed it, all together and all at once,” he explained. 

 

“It's our best chance to get out of here alive,” Rose added in reassurance, then she smiled and blurted out, “Praise him.”

 

Everyone's eyes widened and the Doctor jolted into action. “Alright then, now here's what we do.”

 

The group, consisting of Amy, Rory, Rita, Gibbis, Rose, and the Doctor gathered together at the other end of the restaurant from the entrance so they could see the Minotaur like beast coming after them.

 

“Okay, everyone get ready,” he told the assembled group and put his arms around Rose so he could murmur into her hair. “Feel it, love. Our faith in each other. Let it fill every corner of your mind, because you and I, we have faith to spare. Nothing can stop us, the stuff of legend, eh?” he encouraged her.

 

The creature approached them from around a corner and they clung to each other fiercely as they faced it down. It seemed energized at first, stronger than ever before, but halfway  across the room ,  it looked panicked for a moment before it stumbled and fell to the floor. The image of the hotel around them spar ked and dissol ved into the real image of the spaceship they were on. The others from the hotel were  standing next to them in shock and the Minotaur lay on the ground where it had fallen.

 

“Did we overload the system or something?” Rose asked him.

 

“Yeah. He was part of it,” the Doctor answered as he moved to kneel next to the dying creature. “System overload combined with his own desire to end it all and the whole thing fell apart.”

 

“What is it? A Minotaur or an alien? Or an alien Minotaur? That's not a question I thought I'd be asking this morning,” Amy commented.

 

“Is it all that surprising with our lives, Amy?” Rose questioned.

 

“Whatever it is, I'm glad we beat it,” Rita said. She then looked out a window and breathed out, “Wow.”

 

“It's both actually,” the Doctor answered as he read through the computer files from a nearby monitor. “Distant cousin of the Nimon. They descend on planets and set themselves up as gods to be worshipped. Which is fine, until the inhabitants get all secular and advanced enough to build bonkers prisons.”

 

“Correction. Prisons in space,” Rory informed them as he and Gibbis looked out a different window and the stars outside.

 

“Where are the guards?” Amy asked.

 

“No need for any. It's all automated. It drifts through space, snatching people with belief systems and converts their faith into food for the creature,” the Doctor explained.

 

“Well, they weren't counting on us, were they, love?” Rose commented as she joined him next to the dying creature and took his hand. “There you are, dear. It's done now,” she told it soothingly and stroked its forehead.

 

The Minotaur growled in reply and Rose raised her eyebrow at her husband, waiting for him to translate the words that the TARDIS wasn't telling her.

 

“Your faith in each other is stronger than religion, never let it die,” he told her.

 

After dropping off Gibbis and Rita back at their homes, the TARDIS materialized on a very posh street, lined with lovely houses and a small park nearby.

 

“Don't tell me. This isn't Earth, that isn't a real house, and inside lives a goblin who feeds on indecision?” Amy teased them as she looked around.

 

“No. Real Earth, real house, real door keys,” the Doctor replied, tossing a key ring into Rory's hands.

 

“You're not serious?” Amy gasped.

 

“The car too? But, that's my favourite car. How did you know that was my favourite car?” Rory rambled disbelievingly.

 

“You showed me a picture of it once and said, 'this is my favourite car,'” the Doctor responded, mocking him with a silly voice.

 

“Rory, can you give us two minutes? Two minutes?” Amy prompted.

 

“She'll say that we can't accept it because it's too extravagant and we'll always feel a crippling sense of obligation. It's a risk I'm willing to take,” Rory told them before he moved toward his dream car.

 

“You two are leaving, aren't you?” Amy asked the couple she had known almost her whole life.

 

“It's not forever, Amy. It couldn't ever be. With River and everything, you're family. You've got everyone's number in Cardiff and you can call us on the TARDIS any time, you know that. But we need to do some running on our own for a bit,” Rose assured her.

 

“Speaking of River, if you bump into my daughter, tell her to visit her old mum sometime?” Amy requested.

 

“Absolutely. Same goes if you happen to see Jamie around. Tell him to call home once in a while, yeah?” Rose replied and gave the ginger a fierce hug.

 

“And you look after him,” the Doctor added with a nod toward where Rory was waiting in the doorway of their new house.

 

“You look after each other,” she agreed, hugging him as well.

 

The Doctor and Rose retreated to the TARDIS and shut the doors on their companions. “Well, my love, time to run.”

 


	19. The Wedding of River Song

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this would be the end of the series, but I have a few things to do with them before moving on. The end of the chapter is NSFW.

 

Chapter 19 – The Wedding of River Song

 

James and River had been travelling for almost two years now. After their reunion in Berlin and saving his mother from the device that she had been manipulated into using, he needed to help her heal. He needed to teach her about time travel, paradoxes, and all of the things that he knew she would know in the future. But most of all, she needed to get to know him the way he already knew her.

 

After two years of travelling together again for James, the first time for River, he felt that they had reached that necessary level of comfort with each other. His father had given him the materials needed for the Gallifreyan bracelets some time ago and he made sure to have the human symbol for her as well. His mother had never cared about that, but he wanted to for River's sake. She had never gotten a normal human life that she deserved, and he knew that the life that was waiting for her wasn't any easier for quite a while at least.

 

It was a bit sentimental, but James decided to take River to the same place that his father had asked this question of his mother. It really was beautiful after all. The sky was a pale pinkish-lavender today and the giant, flying creatures were singing in a manner reminiscent of whale song.

 

They walked along the rocky path, hand in hand, for some time before he spotted a relatively dry spot to sit together. River pulled a few snacks out of her bag and handed him one. They ate together quietly for some time as James fidgeted nervously, collecting his thoughts.

 

“River, I love you,” he told her assuredly.

 

She looked at him and smiled brightly. It was probably the most genuine smile he had ever seen from her. Usually, her smiles had been tainted with the knowledge of the hard times lying ahead for him and behind for her. But she was really happy right now, which just reinforced his resolve that now was the perfect time.

 

“And I love you, James. These have been the best years of my life,” she replied.

 

“And I hope that I can give you centuries more of the best years, love. It won't all be easy. You know that there will be times when your parents still won't know who you are and you won't be able to tell them. There will be times when you meet me and I won't know you at all, but I want there to be a light at the end of all that. Hopefully in between too, I do have a few ideas about that,” he added with a smirk. “But I want you to know that I'm not asking this because of the things that were revealed to me years ago. I'm asking you this because I genuinely want it. For you and for me. Would you marry me, River?”

 

“Oh, James, really? I honestly thought you were joking in Berlin. Really?” she asked, tears filling her eyes, but not falling yet.

 

“Absolutely. Please, River, be my wife,” he prompted again.

 

“Yes, James. I couldn't ask for a better light to cling to through everything else,” she responded and their lips met in a passionate kiss.

 

He pulled the small box from his pocket to reveal the diamond ring he had fashioned for her. The large stone was set in yellow gold and glinted brightly in the setting sunlight. He slipped it onto her finger and saved the bracelets for when they actually got married.

 

##########################

 

They ran. The Doctor and Rose ran for centuries. Neither of them were completely sure how long it was, but the baby TARDIS was ready. They had visited with their friends at Torchwood a few times, when Rose was missing her family painfully. They had bumped into Jamie and River a few times. Any time it had happened, they were terrified that it might be a sign that their time was up, but things had always been a bit out of order and they felt some relief at that.

 

They could both feel it however, when the TARDIS started to nudge them back towards the necessary events. They didn't know exactly what would be waiting for them, but they knew that life had to go on, even if it meant that they didn't.

 

When the TARDIS phone rang, they shared a knowing look.

 

“Hello?” the Doctor asked curiously.

 

“Hey, dad! I have a bit of a favour to ask,” Jamie greeted him happily.

 

“For you, Jamie? Name it,” the Doctor replied.

 

“I know you told me about when you married mum. It was just the two of you and that was all you needed at the time, but I was thinking, for River's sake that she didn't get to have a real family growing up and we both have family that we care about and would want to share it with...” Jamie rambled, reminiscent of his father's previous incarnation.

 

“No need for explanations, son. Where and when would you like us to bring everyone?” he interrupted, understanding exactly why he wanted to share this event with all of their friends and family.

 

After receiving time and date coordinates, the Doctor set his TARDIS to pick up the Ponds, as well as everyone over at Torchwood. Rose called ahead to let everyone know to expect them and be ready for a little trip. The TARDIS was quickly filled with all of the people that, related or not, had become their family.

 

“Are these coordinates on Barcelona?” Rose asked her husband as she checked over their final destination.

 

“That they are, my love,” the Doctor replied and worked with her to set them on their way.

 

“Well, what do we need a spaceship for to go there? Coulda' met you there ourselves, we could,” Jackie protested, still not comfortable on the ship since that little adventure at Canary Wharf.

 

“Because we're going to the planet called Barcelona, mum. We visit there a lot, so it's one of Jamie's favourite places,” Rose explained. She wouldn't dare tell her mother how long they had been away or how old she was now. All she could do was be happy that she could still visit with her and understood the Doctor's reasoning completely about when Jamie was a baby and they had waited so long between visits.

 

“Oh, it would be some weird alien place that you'd wanna take us all to,” she grumbled.

 

“Don't worry about it, Jackie. I'm sure it's really nice if they go there to relax,” Donna assured her.

 

“It's beautiful. Sun, sand, beaches,” Jack added.

 

“Oh, alright. Why are we going there anyway?” Jackie questioned.

 

“It's a surprise. Ah! Here we are. Barcelona,” the Doctor announced as he flipped the last lever and the TARDIS landed with a thump.

 

Everyone filed out of the TARDIS and blinked at the bright sunlight. The Doctor and Jack helped make sure that Donna's wheelchair got out of the time ship easily as the others surveyed their surroundings.

 

“Oh, we're near the beach! Maybe we could all go swimming later,” Rose suggested.

 

“Hello! We've been waiting for you!” Jamie called to them as he and River approached the group with broad smiles.

 

“So, what's this all about, you two?” Amy questioned after hugs and kisses had been exchanged all around.

 

“You didn't tell them?” River asked.

 

“No, we wanted it to be a surprise,” Rose responded with a smirk.

 

“Well, um, River and I are getting married and we wanted all of you here,” Jamie explained, rubbing the back of his neck the way his father used to.

 

“Well, it's about time,” Jack laughed.

 

“What you mean, about time? I don't even know this girl. Last I saw her, she stole him away when he was half dead!” Jackie shouted.

 

“Mum, calm down. We've known River for a long time now. Jamie's known her since he was eight. She's Amy and Rory's daughter,” Rose told her placatingly.

 

“Well how's that then? She looks older than they do, and how could...?” Jackie started, but was interrupted.

 

“It's all very timey-whimey, but completely understood. Jamie, is there anything that you need done before we get to the main event?” the Doctor redirected, trying not to upset his mother-in-law too much, but knowing that most of the people involved here understood the complexities of time travel.

 

Pete took his wife's arm and tried to calm her down as best he could manage.

 

“I know it's a bit confusing, gran, but I promise you, we've spent years together and we are very happy. We aren't doing anything formal, dad. But we thought it would be nice to go down to the beach?” Jamie suggested.

 

“Sounds perfect, sweetheart. Might want to switch that anitgrav on for Donna, so she doesn't sink into the sand, love,” Rose responded with a smile.

 

“This thing has antigrav and you never told me about it?” Donna shouted.

 

The Doctor winced at her tone before using his sonic to activate the more futuristic settings that he had disabled on Earth. “Well, I couldn't have you floating this thing all over Cardiff and causing a paradox, now could I?” he replied defensively.

 

“You think I can't manage to realize that? I'd only use it in the Hub or emergencies, you daft alien,” she said with a glare to rival Jackie's.

 

“Alright, alright. I'll leave the settings accessible, just don't let any of those twenty-first century humans catch sight of it. It's bad enough that there are several off-world materials used in this thing,” he acquiesced.

 

The Doctor and Jamie stayed back a bit from the others as they all walked toward the beach. Each of them having a few important things to say before the day was through.

 

“Do you have the bracelets?” the Doctor asked.

 

“Yeah. Thank you for those,” he responded, wringing his hands nervously. “Look, dad, I know you and mum have been running again. And I know why.”

 

The Doctor froze in his steps, eyeing his son appraisingly. He knew that Jamie had been witness to whatever was coming already, and apparently, it was time for him to find out about how this circular paradox he'd been warned of would close. “I'm going to die, aren't I?” he asked pointedly.

 

“No, dad. I'll explain all of the details for you later, but I need to tell you this before the ceremony. Use the Tesselecta, or something like it. You need to appear to die permanently, but I know that you didn't. You told me telepathically before it happened. I'll need to warn River about something right after the ceremony and when you see her, well, you'll know when, just remind her about what I said,” Jamie explained.

 

“The Tesselecta? Brilliant. Yes, that would work. You, my boy, are a genius! Of course, you are, look who your parents are. We're both brilliant, Rose and I, so of course you'd be just as brilliant, if not more so. Yes, alright, details before we part ways,” the Doctor responded, the relief that he felt radiating through his bonds with his family strongly. Rose glanced over at him from where she was walking with Jackie and Pete towards their destination. He smiled at her reassuringly and mentally told her that he'd explain later.

 

There was a small, white gazebo near the beach, by a small group of trees. They decided to use that for their little ceremony. When everyone was gathered in the shade, the Doctor stood up inside the small structure with his son and River.

 

“When Rose and I did this, it was just the two of us, but there were occasionally more public ceremonies on Gallifrey, so Jamie has asked me to officiate in that manner,” the Doctor announced. He cleared his throat and pulled a length of cloth out of his pocket. “Rose and I, Jackie and Pete, Amy and Rory, all understand just what it means to find that perfect match in your life. That one other person that completes you in a way that no one else ever could. And so, we understand completely the desire that the two of you have to make this commitment today. River, take one end of this, please,” he instructed, handing her one end of the cloth. “Wrap it around your wrist and hold out the other end to Jamie, who will do the same.”

 

With their wrists bound together loosely, the Doctor turned to Amy and Rory. “You are the parents of Melody Pond, who has chosen the name River Song, each of you please repeat, 'I consent and gladly give.'”

 

Amy and Rory both voiced their consent. The Doctor turned then to his wife. “Rose, you and I are the parents of James Tyler, please say, 'I consent and gladly give.'”

 

Rose said the phrase with tears in her eyes and hugged her mother, who was standing next to her, equally tearful. From Jackie's perspective, James had only been born a few years ago. Children always seemed to grow up quickly, but this was beyond her understanding.

 

“And, of course, I consent and gladly give my son to you, River. These bracelets are made from a metal that enhances telepathic communications when they touch each other and were the traditional symbol of marriage on Gallifrey,” he explained as he placed the bracelets on their bound wrists. “James and River will now connect their minds to create a permanent marriage bond. He will share with her his Gallifreyan name, only known to his parents and his wife, never to be spoken to another,” the Doctor concluded and everyone watched as the couple placed the fingers of their unbound hands on each other's temples and closed their eyes. A moment later, James leaned close to whisper into River's ear.

 

James continued speaking to her, but just loudly enough that his father could hear as well. “Remember that none of what happens because of them is your fault. I will always love you and there is light waiting for you at the end of the tunnel.” With tearful smiles, they sealed the union with a kiss.

 

“Umm, well, you may kiss the bride, I believe the saying goes,” the Doctor stuttered as he watched the rather unusual ending to the Gallifreyan ceremony.

 

The gathered friends and family all clapped and cheered. James looked up over the shoulder of his bride and noticed one of the Silence standing on the hill. River felt his sudden worry and mentally asked him what the problem was. He continued to stare at the creature, knowing that the moment he looked away, he would forget that it was ever there. The problem was, this River didn't know all of the things they had learned about them in America and it likely wasn't here to do anything other than watch for the moment. He assured his wife not to worry and chose to look away, getting on with the rest of their happy day.

 

Everyone enjoyed some time swimming in the warm ocean. Donna chose to spend her time sunbathing with Rose and by the time the sun was setting, they were happy to make their way back to the TARDIS. Jackie insisted on sleeping in her own bed and so, the Doctor and Rose piloted the ship back to Torchwood. Amy and Rory stayed in their room on the TARDIS and James had found his room adjusted to welcome his wife as well.

 

His bunk beds were gone and a king sized, four poster was sitting in the middle of the room. There were dozens of pillows, the deep red comforter already folded down welcomingly.

 

“Well, this looks promising,” River cooed as she began to remove the coverup she had worn on the beach.

 

James gulped nervously. They had snuggled together at night for a long time now, but had never actually had sex yet. He had already decided that he wouldn't be leaving her alone in that regard through all of their past travels. James knew exactly when he would be able to meet with her for intimate relations through the centuries that she was living out her sentence in Stormcage.

 

“Come here, James. I promise to be gentle. Well, the first time anyway,” River told him with a predatory grin that set his hearts beating so fast, he thought she could probably hear them across the room.

 

“I've waited too long for this,” James admitted as he stared at his now naked wife.

 

“You were travelling with the future me for how long? And we never?” she asked incredulously.

 

“Don't worry, I have a plan. You won't be going without, I promise,” he assured her and pulled his shirt over his head as he approached the bed.

 

“Mmmm, intriguing. I look forward to it,” River purred and pulled him down onto the bed beside her.

 

James kissed her harshly and ran his fingers through her hair. He gasped into her mouth when she removed the swim trunks he had worn at the beach and grasped his erection firmly. “River! Oh, gods! Slow down, love or this will be over embarrassingly quickly.”

 

She hummed smugly and straddled him, keeping total control over the situation. She admired his toned muscles as he tensed nervously beneath her. She lowered herself onto him and both groaned at the sensations. They could feel each other's pleasure through their link, heightening the sensations beyond anything either had ever felt before.

 

“I love you! Oh, River, I love you!” James shouted and suddenly flipped their positions so that she was beneath him instead. He kissed his way down her neck to suck on her breasts while River took advantage of the new position to grasp his bum and wrap her legs around his.

 

River shrieked as her body clenched around his and James followed her quickly, both of them gasping for air. His arms felt weak and he collapsed beside her on the bed. She snuggled close to him and they both took their time basking in their telepathic link before having another go. There would be time, James decided. He would keep her with him for as long as he could before dropping her off at the university to begin her archeological studies.


	20. Saving Lives

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I think this chapter marks the end of this story... there will DEFINITELY be more in the series. I've got lots of plans for them still.

Chapter 20: Saving Lives

 

When River and James finally emerged from their bedroom, it was late afternoon. They giggled their way through lunch before James decided to talk to his parents about the circular paradox issue. River decided to spend some time in the pool, relaxing and he promised to join her later.

 

The Doctor, Rose and James sat together in the library to discuss everything and the younger Time Lord was fidgeting nervously. “I think it's safe now to tell you everything about the events, dad. We're past everything that could influence it except for what I saw from the future you that was there,” he told his father.

 

“This has something to do with those blue envelopes, doesn't it?” the Doctor guessed.

 

“Yeah. Yours sent you to the diner, but the rest of us were called in a bit earlier. I'm guessing the two of you have been running from it for a few centuries now?” James questioned as he handed his father the letter he had received to give him the exact time and place to send everyone else.

 

“Well, yeah,” he admitted sheepishly.

 

“You don't have to worry about it. Use the Tesselecta, or something very like it. You called us all to go for a picnic at Lake Silencio. We were being watched, you warned me about that and to make it all seem real. I didn't want River in here for this conversation because it hasn't happened for her yet, but she'll come out of the lake in that damn space suit that she can't control. She appears to shoot you, you start to regenerate, and she shoots you again. Canton was there, but older of course, and he brought a can of petrol to burn the body,” James explained in detail.

 

“What about me?” Rose wondered.

 

“You weren't there. I think they presumed they were successful with that thing in Berlin. Dad told me you were off shopping with gran. That should be all the information that you need to close it all off,” he concluded.

 

“Thank you, Jamie,” Rose said, hugging him tightly. “I was terrified. For hundreds of years now, I've been terrified that this was it and you'd be on your own, trying to do what your dad has done for so long.”

 

“Don't worry, mum. Lots of years left for all of us,” he assured his mother.

 

Rose looked at the Doctor pointedly for a moment. _“We need to tell him about River. There has to be a way around it. What about something similar to what he's suggesting for you?”_ she thought to him.

 

“Jamie, we need to discuss how I first met your wife,” the Doctor began, agreeing with Rose that they deserved a chance to try and save her.

 

“It was while mum and I were in the other universe, yeah?”

 

“Yes. River contacted me on the psychic paper. She asked me to go to The Library. When I got there with Donna, the whole planet was deserted. River arrived with an archeological team to discover what happened there to seal it off one hundred years before. Long story short, the place was infested with Vashta Nerada, nearly killing all of us,” the Doctor explained.

 

“You're both upset about this, what is it?” James pressed, sensing their anxiety.

 

“First, I didn't trust her. She kept saying that she knew me and whatnot. To prove herself to me, she whispered the part of our names that you and I share. With your mother gone and me not knowing about you at all, I thought it was a sign that she would be my wife in the future,” the Doctor told him honestly.

 

“Ok, I'll be sure to pass along that information to her, but there's something else. Tell me what it is,” James insisted.

 

“From what I saw, River died. All of the people that had been in The Library during the initial attack had been teleported out and saved on the hard drive, but there wasn't enough memory to get them out again. I was going to plug myself into the computer to save them all, but she knocked me out and plugged herself into it instead. I think, we might be able to work out something similar to what you were suggesting for me with the Tesselecta,” he assured his son.

 

“She died the first time you ever met her?” James asked, tears forming in his eyes. “And you never thought to tell me about it? Just let me keep going with her the whole time?”

 

“Oh, sweetheart! It wasn't like that! I've been trying to think of a way to fix this from the first moment that I knew about it. You know that we would never sit by and just let it happen,” Rose told him, soothingly rubbing his back.

 

“This will work, Jamie. In fact, we can set it up so that the thing will work even better than hooking a biological brain into it for the download. You can't be with her for it though. My past self would feel our link for sure, but we will save your wife, son,” the Doctor said earnestly.

 

“Now. Let's leave all of this melancholy stuff behind for a mo' and give these love birds their wedding present, husband,” Rose suggested.

 

“Ah! Yes. You're gonna love this!” the Doctor beamed and grasped both of their hands to pull them along behind him. He practically ran down the hallway, urging James to call River to join them.

 

When River peeked out the door to the pool, James grabbed her hand and pulled her along with them as his father continued to tug him down the hallway. Rose giggled at the sight of them stumbling behind the Doctor.

 

“What's this all about, dad?” James questioned.

 

“Your wedding present!” the Doctor responded happily. “It's a human thing, I think. Giving wedding presents? Don't know if we did that for Amy and Rory, did we? I suppose we could always jump back and drop something off for them.”

 

“We took them on a few honeymoon trips, love. Several of them, not so fun, but the last one was alright, I think,” Rose told him.

 

“Ah yes! Right again, my love. Now, this has been in the making for some time, and to be honest, one of the reasons that we've been running for quite so long, Jamie. Wanted this to be ready for you before taking any chances, but you've gone and figured out our solution, so it's just a bonus now. Through that door, the two of you will find something that every Time Lord needs,” the Doctor told them with a grand gesture toward the door they had stopped in front of.

 

James had a feeling that he knew what he would find, but wasn't sure. He tentatively opened the door with shaking hands. What he found was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. In a rather plain looking room, there stood what appeared to be a a beautiful tree made out of coral. It reminded James of the old console room, from when he was a child, before his father regenerated. The coral shimmered slightly in the light and almost seemed to glow from within. The little TARDIS reached out to James and River telepathically and both of them gasped at the contact, grasping each other's hands tightly.

 

“She's so beautiful, dad. Oh thank you!” James cried and pulled him into a quick hug before running into his new ship, tugging his wife behind him. A door opened in the main trunk of the little tree, revealing a small, round console room.

 

“This TARDIS is young yet, but she'll grow. You've got the essential rooms and controls ready to go, and she can always dock in here when you'd like to visit. The two ships are linked, so they'll always be able to find each other,” the Doctor explained as he and Rose joined them by the main console.

 

“It's lovely. Much nicer than travelling by vortex manipulator, I'm sure,” River replied.

 

“Definitely, though I'm sorry to say that you've got quite a bit of that left, love. But, like so many other promises that I've made to you, our beautiful TARDIS will be waiting for you. Did you need any help with that thing we discussed, dad? I'd like to take my wife on a few trips before I return her to the university,” James suggested.

 

“Nah, I'm sure Rose and I can manage it. And when you're ready to tackle that other project, you let me know. I want to make sure that everything is perfect for that,” he responded.

 

“You come visit us often, sweetheart. You too, River,” Rose told them, giving them both hugs and kisses before leaving their ship for the time being.

 

As the older couple stood back in the hallway, they listened to the engines start up. That sound was made by every TARDIS and Time Ring from Gallifrey. Now, there were only these two TARDISes left in the universe. But there was hope; the Doctor was not the last anymore.

 

They dropped off Amy and Rory at home for the time being and set to work on closing the circular paradox. Rose went to the store to purchase the blue stationary, while the Doctor searched out plans for the Tesselecta. He could just borrow it, knowing it would be burned at the end of the adventure, but if they were going to create another one to save River, then creating a second would be necessary anyway.

 

After several trips to find the necessary parts and days of the two of them working to build the machine, Rose and the Doctor were practising their control over it. The Doctor was inside, doing most of the controlling of movement and speech, while Rose was at the TARDIS controls, making sure that everything worked smoothly and would be operating the transmat beam that would get him out of there.

 

“What do you think, love? Does it look exactly like me? Maybe it needs a fez,” the Doctor wondered.

 

“No fez. Ooh, I have an idea!” Rose exclaimed and ran off to the wardrobe room for a moment before returning with a Stetson for him.

 

“Really? You think?” he asked, carefully placing the hat on his head and tipping it to emulate the few western films that he had seen.

 

“Mmmm, yes, I think,” Rose told him with a sexy smirk. “This one, you can keep.”

 

“Well, let's get this show on the road,” he replied with a terrible accent as he tried to sound like a cowboy. Rose giggled as she piloted them to the correct date to send out the letters, then to sneak past themselves into the past TARDIS to deliver their own summons.

 

With everything in place, the couple jointly flew their time ship to meet their fate. The Doctor borrowed an old car and drove it to the spot where he had called everyone together. Rose watched everything through a video feed from the robot her husband was piloting. The look on River's face from the spacesuit was heartbreaking. She felt awful for her daughter-in-law, strengthening her resolve even further to make sure that she lived past The Library to have her happily ever after with Jamie.

 

As the simulated regeneration light flashed, she teleported the Doctor back onto the TARDIS and allowed everything to play out the way everyone remembered, closing the loop of events.

 

##############

 

It was only a few days later, that the Doctor and Rose got a call from their son. The couple was lounging by the pool inside the TARDIS when Rose's mobile rang. “Jamie! How are you, sweetheart?” she asked.

 

“I'm fine, mum. Just dropped off River at the university, and I'd like your help starting on the solution for The Library,” he told her.

 

“So soon? I thought you two would spend some time honeymooning before she went back,” Rose commented as she grabbed her towel and headed toward their bedroom to get dressed. The Doctor followed after her, realizing what the phone call was about immediately.

 

“It's been months for me, mum,” he replied.

 

“Oh, well just a week or so for us. But we'd love to help you with it, love. Dock your TARDIS here and we can get on it right away,” she assured him. “See you soon.”

 

James docked his TARDIS inside his parents' and made his way to the console room. He was anxious to get this rescue just right, which would take excessive planning and possibly quite some time to accomplish. He would not risk any mistakes in saving the life of his wife.

 

"Jamie! Just wanted to say that you, son, are brilliant. All went off without a hitch, as you well know since you lived through it even before we did, but absolutely brilliant nonetheless. Now, we have quite a task ahead of us if we are to save your River Song while keeping things the way I remember them happening in The Library," the Doctor rambled.

 

"Hello, Jamie," Rose greeted him with a hug.

 

"Mum, dad," James acknowledged. "Let's get started, and the more details you can give me about what happened, the better. I know I can't tell River everything that will happen for her, but I need to make sure that she will have everything she needs while she is there."

 

The Doctor, Rose, and James worked steadily for weeks to build a new version of the Tesselecta-type robot that was custom made for River and what she would need to accomplish in The Library. It would shield her from any Vashta Nerada entering and threatening her, it would connect with the computer mainframe to facilitate the safe retrieval of everyone trapped in the core, be easy enough for her to pilot the robot on her own, and have the strength to knock the Doctor unconscious when necessary. Armed with a sonic screwdriver and a sonic blaster similar to Jack's, the device was ready to be passed along to the woman who would need it.

 

James kept it stored in his TARDIS, never knowing exactly when he would cross that point in her timeline. He only knew that she had achieved the title of Professor at that point and was therefore after all other meetings they'd had in his life so far.

 

He visited her often, both between his past visits and during her time travelling with his younger self. James knew it had to be hard for her to be travelling with her husband, but not have the intimate contact that she deserved. There were several times during their past travels where he remembered her being gone for some time and that gave him the opportunities to meet up with her briefly.

 

On a day just like any other, though perhaps a bit lonely on his baby TARDIS, the phone rang. "James Tyler," he answered the ringing.

 

"Hello, James," came River's voice. "I'm packing up my things from Stormcage and was hoping you might help me move out of here."

 

"Of course, love. I'll be there right away. Coordinates?" he responded, excited that she might be at the end of the tangled mess of their timelines apart. She gave him the date to meet her and he materialized right outside of her cell. Their ship felt the excitement of her pilots and chose the form of a little house with a sign hanging on the door reading, home sweet home. The sight made both of them laugh as James greeted his wife with a spinning hug, lifting her easily off of the ground.

 

"She seems almost as anxious to get me out of here as you, James," River beamed.

 

"I'm sure she is. It's lonely travelling without you or the rest of the family. Where am I taking you, love? I'm sure you've got something planned," James replied.

 

"I don't have anywhere to live for the moment, but I am expected for an expedition. The team is waiting for me at the university," she informed him as they both carried the various boxes of her things from her cell into their ship.

 

"Interesting. And where is this expedition going to take you? I could always tag along if you'd like," he suggested.

 

"That would be fun. We're investigating what happened in The Library a hundred years ago," she responded casually. James froze immediately. This was it. If it didn't work, he would never see her any later in her life. "What is it? What's wrong?" she questioned, feeling his panic.

 

"I can't go with you," he sighed and moved their ship into the Vortex to discuss what she would need to know. "Dad will meet you there though."

 

"This already happened for them. You know what I'm about to be up against," she realized.

 

"Yeah. And just like the last time we had a circular paradox, the less I tell you, the more freedom you'll have to improvise. There are a few things however that you'll need to know for this to work. The first is, you'll be going inside a protective, robotic shell that I've constructed for you. I can't go with you because dad won't know that I exist yet, so you can't mention me or mum. Dad won't trust you. To gain his trust, you'll need to whisper the part of our name that he and I share. Let him think what he will about that," James explained.

 

"But wouldn't he think that would make me his wife?" she asked.

 

"Yes. Mum and I are trapped in the other universe for him. You can't let him know we're coming back. The last part is the most important. This suit that I've made for you is designed to solve the problem the way dad works out. You've got to stop him from doing it himself and take his place. That's honestly all I can tell you about it, but I will get you out of there in time, I promise," he assured her.

 

"You're terrified that this won't work," River pointed out.

 

"Mum and dad and I have spent a long time working on this. We should have accounted for all possibilities that dad remembers. I have to keep telepathically shielded through all of this or dad will feel my presence. I'll keep our TARDIS on the planet nearby and at the right moment, I'll get you out of there. Oh, and this is his face before the Byzantium," he added.

 

"Alright. I've got it. Is this it? The end of our timelines crossing?" River asked.

 

"As far as I know, this is it, love. When this is over, you're staying with me, and that life that has been waiting for you is here," he told her and pulled her into his arms. River held onto her husband tightly, thrilled that the pain of all the secrets was almost over. She'd been waiting for this day since their wedding and it was almost in their grasp.

 

She practised piloting the robot and pronouncing the name that she would need to use to gain the Doctor's trust before he dropped her off at the university and parked himself on The Library planet, shielding his presence from his father's past self, but able to receive a signal from River to teleport her safely once it was all over.

 

He watched the video feed from the robot as his wife fought her way through The Library with his father and Aunt Donna. He never knew Aunt Donna before she had her wheel chair, so it was strange for him to see her running with the rest of them. The pain in his father's eyes just about broke his hearts when River was about to plug into the computer core, but he couldn't let it distract him from the critical moment that he needed to activate the teleport.

 

In a flash of light, River was in his arms, tears streaming down her face. The pain of having lost most of her team, putting on the façade of dying for the Doctor, and the relief of it all being finally over came crashing down and the couple spent hours crying together.

 

When they were snuggled together in their bed that night, and most of the tears were dry, James whispered to his wife, "Welcome home, Melody."

 

"Thank you, James. Though a century of being called River Song, has made that name feel far more real to me now," she told him.

 

"How about River Tyler?" he suggested, knowing that she had never had the chance to openly claim their marriage since the wedding itself.

 

River chuckled softly. "We could take my parents' route and call you James Song," she teased. "But I think I'd like that. River Tyler."

 

James hummed happily as he squeezed his wife a little tighter against himself and they both drifted off to sleep.

 


End file.
